Ireland's population was estimated to be 5.01 million in April 2021, which is the first time the population has risen above five million since the 1851 census, when the comparable population was 5.11 million. The total population on the island of Ireland in 1851 was 6.6 million. See Figure 1.1.
| Million persons | |
| 1841 | 6.528799 |
| 1851 | 5.111557 |
| 1861 | 4.402111 |
| 1871 | 4.053187 |
| 1881 | 3.87002 |
| 1891 | 3.468694 |
| 1901 | 3.221823 |
| 1911 | 3.139688 |
| 1926 | 2.971992 |
| 1936 | 2.96842 |
| 1946 | 2.955107 |
| 1951 | 2.960593 |
| 1956 | 2.898264 |
| 1961 | 2.818341 |
| 1966 | 2.884002 |
| 1971 | 2.978248 |
| 1979 | 3.368217 |
| 1981 | 3.443405 |
| 1986 | 3.540643 |
| 1991 | 3.525719 |
| 1996 | 3.626087 |
| 2002 | 3.917203 |
| 2006 | 4.239848 |
| 2011 | 4.574888 |
| 2016 | 4.739597 |
| 2021 | 5.011460 |
The combination of natural increase and positive net migration gave population growth of 34,000 (+0.7%) in the year to April 2021. This is the smallest population gain since 2014 when the population increased by 30,800. See Figure 1.2 and Table 1.1.
There were 55,500 births and 32,700 deaths in the year to April 2021, giving a natural increase (births less deaths) in the population of 22,800. This is the lowest level of natural increase recorded since the 2000 population estimates. See Figure 1.2 and Table 1.1.
The number of immigrants to the State in the year to April 2021 was estimated to be 65,200 and the number of emigrants was recorded as 54,000 over the same period. These combined flows gave positive net migration, (i.e., more people arrived than left), of 11,200 in the year to April 2021, compared with 28,900 in the previous year, a decline of 61.2%. See Figure 1.2 and Table 1.1.
| Natural Increase | Net Migration | Population Change | |
| 1987 | 29 | -23 | 5.9 |
| 1988 | 26.2 | -41.9 | -15.8 |
| 1989 | 22.6 | -43.9 | -21.2 |
| 1990 | 19.1 | -22.9 | -3.7 |
| 1991 | 22 | -2 | 19.9 |
| 1992 | 21.4 | 7.4 | 28.8 |
| 1993 | 20 | -0.4 | 19.6 |
| 1994 | 16.6 | -4.7 | 11.8 |
| 1995 | 17.2 | -1.9 | 15.4 |
| 1996 | 16.7 | 8 | 24.8 |
| 1997 | 19 | 19.2 | 38.2 |
| 1998 | 21.5 | 17.4 | 38.8 |
| 1999 | 21.2 | 17.3 | 38.5 |
| 2000 | 21.8 | 26 | 47.9 |
| 2001 | 24.8 | 32.8 | 57.7 |
| 2002 | 28.8 | 41.3 | 70 |
| 2003 | 31.9 | 30.7 | 62.6 |
| 2004 | 33.3 | 32 | 65.3 |
| 2005 | 33.5 | 55.1 | 88.6 |
| 2006 | 34.2 | 71.8 | 106 |
| 2007 | 38.2 | 104.8 | 142.9 |
| 2008 | 44.9 | 64.3 | 109.2 |
| 2009 | 46.7 | 1.6 | 48.3 |
| 2010 | 48.8 | -27.5 | 21.4 |
| 2011 | 47.5 | -27.4 | 20.1 |
| 2012 | 44.5 | -25.7 | 18.8 |
| 2013 | 39.6 | -18.7 | 21 |
| 2014 | 39.2 | -8.5 | 30.8 |
| 2015 | 36.5 | 5.9 | 42.3 |
| 2016 | 35.6 | 16.2 | 51.8 |
| 2017 | 33.1 | 19.8 | 52.9 |
| 2018 | 30.5 | 34 | 64.5 |
| 2019 | 30.8 | 33.7 | 64.5 |
| 2020 | 27.1 | 28.9 | 55.9 |
| 2021 | 22.8 | 11.2 | 34 |
There were 742,300 people living in Ireland aged 65 and over in April 2021. Those aged 65 and over are the only group to gain population share between 2016 and 2021, increasing from 13.3% to 14.8% of the total, this equates to a volume increase of 112,500. The traditional working age population i.e. those aged 15-64 have grown by around 170,000 persons since 2016, but have seen their population share decline slightly from 65.5% to 65.3%. The population aged 0-14 has seen its population share decline by 1.3 percentage points (10,000 persons) since 2016. See Figure 1.3 and Table 1.2.
| X-axis label | 2016 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| 0-14 | 1005.484 | 995.556 |
| 15-64 | 3104.266 | 3273.631 |
| 65 and over | 629.847 | 742.273 |
There were 4,365,900 (87.1%) Irish nationals and 645,500 (12.9%) non-Irish nationals resident in Ireland in April 2021. Since 2016, the number of Irish nationals has increased by 176,800 (4.2%) while non-Irish nationals showed gains of 95,100 (17.2%) over the same period. See Figure 1.4 and Table 1.3.
| Irish nationals | non-Irish nationals | |
| 2016 | 4189100 | 550400 |
| 2021 | 4365900 | 645500 |
All regions showed some population increase in the year to April 2021. Dublin’s population increased by 8,300 in 2021 bringing the population of Dublin to almost 1.43 million, amounting to 28.5% of the State total. The Midlands with just over 307,000 persons (6.1%) was the region with the smallest population in April 2021. See Table 1.4 and Map 1.1.
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