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CSO Frontier Series outputs may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release.
Learn more about CSO Frontier Series outputs.
The Administrative Population of Ireland, which is a population estimate based on administrative activity with the state, was estimated to be just less than 5.45 million people in April 2023.
People with Irish nationality accounted for more than 4.4 million people or 81% of the of the Administrative Population.
Almost 15% (or 812,846) of the Administrative Population were estimated to be aged 65 years or more.
More than a fifth (23%) of the Administrative Population were aged under 18 years in 2023.
In 2023, the top three nationalities (other than Irish) were UK, Polish and Romanian.
Irish Population Estimates from Administrative Data Sources (IPEADS) 2023 found that more than 200 separate nationalities were represented in the Administrative Population.
This release is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output and particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release. Frontier Series Outputs may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources.
IPEADS is focused on the production of population statistics from administrative data. It is intended to both illustrate the potential of administrative data to produce demographic statistics and highlight the challenges that arise. It is worth noting that different methodologies result in different estimates (See Methodology for more details). The estimates in this release are not the official population statistics and should be used with caution. These estimates are also not comparable with Census of Population data.
IPEADS 2023, like the previous release IPEADS 2022, features statistics that are entirely based on administrative records only. It is important to note that such administrative records are designed for the operational needs of Irish public bodies and not as statistical data sources. However, IPEADS 2023 is the first time the CSO has introduced the concept of the Administrative Population. See the Methodology chapter for more details.
Publishing outputs under the Frontier Series allows the CSO to provide useful new information to users and get informed feedback on these new methods and outputs whilst at the same time making sure that that the limitations are well explained and understood.
Official population estimates are currently based on the Census of Population and Population and Migration Estimates. This report focuses on activity in administrative data, where engagement with the administrative system is taken as an indication of residence in Ireland.
The underlying assumptions and methodologies are different in this release to the official published estimates of the population, and therefore disparities are to be expected and can be seen.
Many attributes available from census data (e.g. religion or health status) are not available from administrative data, and some datasets lack geographical detail. While the methodology attempts to correct for some of these issues, we anticipate improvements in data holdings over time through the continued adoption and implementation of the National Data Infrastructure. The CSO will continue to develop the methodology to estimate the population and will continue to report on future iterations of this project.
It should be noted that the CSO can only measure activity in the available administrative sources. With the exception of children or current spouse/partners connected to active people, people who did not have any interaction with the state during the reference period will not be included in the population estimates as per the stated parameters.
As well as the strict legal protections set out in the Statistics Act, 1993, and other existing regulations, the CSO is committed to protecting individual privacy and all identifiable information from each of the data sources used in this analysis, such as name, date of birth and addresses, are removed before use and only anonymised statistical aggregates are produced. For further information on the data sources, linking procedures and limitations of this report, see the Methodology chapter. Further information on privacy can be found in the Background Notes.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (24 June 2025) published Irish Population Estimates from Administrative Data Sources, 2023. Commenting on the release, Cathal Doherty, Statistician in the Life Events and Demography Section, said:
“This is the fourth iteration of the Irish Population Estimates from Administrative Data Sources (IPEADS) release. This release includes a definition of the Administrative Population for the first time, as the CSO begins to formalise the population concept used in this Frontier Release, that using administrative data can provide more granular population estimates. The Administrative Population is therefore defined as a population estimate using data collected by government departments, agencies, and public bodies other than the CSO.
Using this definition, our analysis shows that the Administrative Population of Ireland in April 2023 was approximately 5.45 million people, with a 50/50 split between men and women. The age profile of the Administrative Population aligned with other CSO Demographic releases. In 2023, less than 15% of the Administrative Population were aged 65 or above, and more than 20% were aged under 18 years.
When considering nationality, 81% of the Administrative Population had Irish nationality in 2023, followed by UK, Polish, Romanian, Indian and Ukrainian.
Please note, that as part of the CSO's Frontier Series, this release uses developmental methodology and IPEADS' estimates must be interpreted with caution and are not comparable with official CSO population estimates such as Census data."