In the 12 months to the end of April 2025:
The population in Ireland rose by 78,300 people and now stands at 5,458,600 people.
There were 125,300 immigrants in the 12-months to April 2025, which is a 16% decrease from the same period of 2024. This was the fourth successive 12-month period where over 100,000 people immigrated to Ireland.
Of those immigrants, 31,500 were returning Irish citizens, 25,300 were other EU citizens, and 4,900 were UK citizens. The remaining 63,600 immigrants were citizens of other countries.
There was a fall in emigration numbers for the first time since 2020 with 65,600 people departing the State in the 12 months to April 2025. This was a decrease of 4,300 people, or 6.2%, compared with 69,900 in the same period of 2024.
There was a natural increase of 18,600 people in the State, comprised of 54,400 births and 35,800 deaths.
Please note that these annual estimates are based on a usual residence population concept whereas the Census of Population is based on a de facto population concept which means that results are not directly comparable. There is a revisions process carried out after each Census on the estimates for that preceding intercensal period, this process was carried out in the Population and Migrations Estimates April 2023 release. (See Background Notes for more information)
The table below summarises the components of population change for the years ending April 2024 and 2025.
| Table 1.1 Population and Migration Estimates | ||
| Components of population change | Year ending April 2024 | Year ending April 2025 |
| Immigration | 149,200 | 125,300 |
| Emigration | 69,900 | 65,600 |
| Net migration1 | 79,300 | 59,700 |
| (of which Irish citizens) | (-4,700) | (-3,500) |
| Births | 54,200 | 54,400 |
| Deaths | 34,800 | 35,800 |
| Natural increase | 19,400 | 18,600 |
| Population change | 98,700 | 78,300 |
| Population | 5,380,300 | 5,458,600 |
| 1 Net migration = Immigration less Emigration. | ||
The combination of natural increase and positive net migration led to a population increase of 78,300 (+1.5%) in the year to April 2025. This increase is 20.7% lower than the increase of 98,700 last year. The usually resident population now stands at 5,458,600 people (See Figure 1 and Table 1.2).
The trend in population change closely aligns with the trend in net migration between the years 1988 and 2025 as shown in Figure 2.
There was net migration of 59,700 in the year to April 2025 – this is a lower figure than the net migration of 79,300 in 2024 and 77,600 in 2023. This decrease in positive net migration is attributed to a larger fall in immigration (down 23,900 from 2024) than emigration (down 4,300 from 2024).
There were 54,400 births and 35,800 deaths in the year to April 2025, leading to a natural increase (births less deaths) in the population of 18,600. This represents a fall of 800 (-4%) from the level of natural increase in 2024.
The 1.5% increase in population between April 2024 and April 2025 can be broken down between a net inward migration accounting for 76% of this growth and a natural increase accounting for 24%. (See Figure 2 and Table 1.2).
The number of immigrants to the State in the year to April 2025 is estimated to have fallen by 16% to 125,300 from 149,200 in 2024.
The number of emigrants also fell over the same period to 65,600 from 69,900. These combined flows gave positive net migration, (i.e. more people arrived than left) of 59,700 in the year to April 2025, compared with 79,300 in the previous year, a 25% decrease (See Figure 3 and Table 1.2).
There were 63,600 immigrants who were Rest of World citizens in the year to April 2025. This is a 27% decrease from the previous 12 months where we saw 86,800 Rest of World citizens immigrating.
Inflows of Irish citizens rose from 30,000 in the year to April 2024, to 31,500 in the year to April 2025, an increase of 1,500 (+5%). (See Figure 4 and Table 1.3).
Of the 65,600 emigrants, 35,000 were Irish citizens in the year to April 2025. With a total of 31,500 returning Irish citizens, there is a net outward migration of Irish citizens (-3,500 people) in the 12 months to April 2025.
There were also 17,400 emigrants who were Rest of World citizens in the year to April 2025. This is a decrease of 19% when compared to the 21,500 emigrants who were Rest of World citizens in the year to April 2024.
In 2025, outflows from the "EU-14" citizenship group accounted for 7,100 emigrants, this has increased by 1,000 from the 2024 figure. Conversely emigration of both citizens from "EU15 to EU27" and “UK” decreased slightly from the 2024 figures, by 1,100 and 300 respectively. (See Figure 5 and Table 1.3).
The 12 months to April 2025 saw 13,500 people leave Ireland to go to Australia, an increase of 2,900 (+27%) from 2024 and an increase of 8,800 (+187%) from 2023. This is the highest level of emigration to Australia since 2013 when an estimated 14,100 emigrated (See Figure 6).
The United States also experienced strong migration flows in the year to April 2025. Estimates have shown that 6,100 people left Ireland to live in the US, up from 5,000 in 2024 (+22%) and 9,600 people moved to Ireland from the US, up from 4,900 in 2024 (+96%) (See Table 1.4).
In the year to April 2025, more than half (59% or 73,900 people) of the total immigrants and just under half (48% or 31,700 people) of the total emigrants were aged between 25 - 44 years.
The lowest proportion of migrants were in the 65 years and over age group, with 2% of both immigrants and emigrants in the oldest age group.
There was a higher proportion of immigrants when compared with emigrants in the youngest age group (0 - 14 years) in the year to April 2025. Of the emigrants, 5% were aged 0 - 14 compared with 16% of the immigrants.
A lower proportion of the 15 - 24 years age group were immigrants (16%) compared with emigrants (33%) (See Figure 7 and Table 1.5).
There were 861,100 people living in Ireland aged 65 and over in April 2025. Those aged 65 and over had an increase in population share between 2019 and 2025, rising from 14.1% in April 2019 to 15.8% of the total by 2025, an increase of 159,700 people.
There were 1,407,200 people living in Ireland aged between 45 and 64 years in April 2025. This age grouping also had a rise in population share between 2019 and 2025, growing from 24.4% to 25.8% of the total, an increase of 195,500 people.
The volume of people living in Ireland in both the 15 - 24 year age group and those aged between 25 and 44 years has increased between 2019 and 2025, by 72,800 and 87,600 respectively. The proportional share of the 15 - 24 year age group in the overall population slightly increased from 12.6% in 2019 to 12.8% in 2025. However, the proportional share has decreased for the 25 - 44 year age group, from 28.4% to 27.4% between 2019 and 2025.
Lastly, the 0 - 14 year age group is the only group that sees a fall in population size between 2019 and 2025. There are 1,000,100 people living in Ireland aged between 0 and 14 in 2025, this is a slight decrease of 15,400 from the 2019 figure of 1,015,500. The population share of this age group has decreased from 20.5% in 2019 to 18.3% in 2025. (See Figure 8 and Table 1.6).
A downward trend in births since 2010 has driven declines in those aged between 0-4 years since 2012. This also leads to a decline in those aged between 5-9 years from 2017 onwards.
There were 55,200 people under the age of 1 year in the country in April 2025, this is a volume decrease of 19,700 (-26%) from the 2010 figure of 74,900 people. There were 290,100 people aged between 0 and 4 years in the country in April 2025, this is a decrease of 68,100 (-19%) from the 2012 figure of 358,200 people and a decrease of 3,100 (1%) in the past 12 months. Lastly, there were 330,000 people aged between 5 and 9 years in the country in April 2025, this is a decrease of 30,700 (-9%) from the 2017 figure of 360,700 people. (See Figure 9 and Table 1.6).
The population of Dublin has risen from 1,261,500 in 2011 to 1,568,000 in 2025 and is now at 28.7% of the total population, a slight increase from 27.6% of the total in 2011.
Once again, the Mid-East and South-West had the second and third highest population by region with 786,500 and 783,600 people respectively, or a 14.4% share of total population each in April 2025. Counties of the Mid-East, South-West, and Dublin NUTS 3 regions (Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Louth, Cork, and Kerry) together had a 57.5% share of the total population in April 2025, with just above three million people.
The region with the highest population growth year-on-year was Dublin, with a rise of 33,100 people. This was followed in second place by the South-East, which saw a rise of 11,600. This represents a rise of 2.4% in the South-East’s population in the 12 months to April 2025, which was the highest rate of population growth in the State.
In April 2025, the region with the lowest contribution to the total population was the Midland region with 332,500 people (6.1% of the total population). This is followed by the Border (442,600 or 8.1%), South-East (486,400 or 8.9%), West (519,600 or 9.5%) and Mid-West (539,400 or 9.9%) regions (See Figure 10 and Table 1.7).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (26 August 2025) published the Population and Migration Estimates, April 2025.
Commenting on the data, Conor J Crowley, Statistician in Population Estimates and Projections, said: "Ireland's population was estimated to be 5.46 million, rising by 78,300 people in the year to April 2025.
The number of immigrants, or those entering the State, in the year to April 2025 was estimated to be 125,300, while the number of emigrants, or those leaving the State, over the same period was estimated at 65,600. These combined flows gave positive net migration (more people having arrived than left), of 59,700 in the year to April 2025, compared with 79,300 in the previous year.
Immigration
The number of immigrants in the 12 months to April 2025 has fallen by 23,900, or 16%, when compared with the previous year and consisted of 31,500 returning Irish citizens, 25,300 other EU citizens, 4,900 UK citizens, and 63,600 other citizens.
Emigration
The number of emigrants in the 12 months to April 2025 has fallen slightly by 6.2% when compared with 2024. This consisted of 35,000 Irish citizens, 10,500 other EU citizens, 2,700 UK citizens, and 17,400 other citizens.
Population Trends
There were 861,100 people living in Ireland aged 65 and over in April 2025. Those aged 65 and over showed an increase in population share between 2019 and 2025 (increasing from 14.1% to 15.8% of the total), a volume increase of 159,700 people.
There were just over a million (1,000,100) people living in Ireland aged 0-14 in April 2025. This age group had a fall in population share between 2019 and 2025, falling from 20.5% to 18.3% of the total population, a decrease of 15,400.
Looking at where people reside, the proportion of the population living in Dublin has risen from 28.2% of the total in 2019 to 28.7% of the total in 2025 and now stands at 1,568,000 people."