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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.
IPEADS 2023 found the Administrative Population of Ireland to be 5.45 million people in April 2023. Improvements to the IPEADS methodology over time have allowed this frontier release to publish granular estimates to the level of Electoral Division. IPEADS 2023 includes “National Statistical Boundaries – 2022” for CSO Small Areas, CSO Electoral Divisions, and CSO Local Electoral Areas for the first time. In previous iterations older National Statistical Boundaries were utilised. This is the first of two detailed results chapters in this publication. This chapter focuses on population estimates of people, the next chapter focuses on family and household estimates.
The remainder of this chapter will provide detailed results on the age, nationality, the geographical distribution, the Primary Economic Status and NACE category of the Administrative Population.
Figure 2.1 shows the number of males and females in 2023 by single year of age. A prominent feature of the population pyramid is the concentration of individuals in their late 30s and early 40s. This reflects high birth numbers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as sustained inward migration of people aged 20 to 30 from the late 1990s to around 2009. While births peaked at 74,000 in 1980, the number of people aged around 40 in 2020 was approximately 89,000, reflecting the impact of net inward migration.
The breakdown of age structure by geographic area in IPEADS is enabled by collection of geographic information from administrative data.
The interactive population pyramid below illustrates how the age profile of the population varies across local authorities in Ireland. In predominantly urban areas—such as Dublin City, Galway City, and Cork City—there are comparatively fewer children and a higher concentration of young adults. In contrast, suburban and rural areas tend to have higher proportions of children and adults in their 30s and 40s.
The population in 2023 varied widely across Ireland’s 166 Local Electoral Areas (LEAs), as detailed using data derived from the geography methodology.
Sixteen LEAs had populations above 50,000. These were concentrated in urban regions, with 14 located in Dublin and 2 in Cork City.
At the lower end, six LEAs had populations below 15,000, situated in Leitrim, Waterford, Longford, and Mayo.
This range reflects the diverse settlement patterns across the country, from densely populated metropolitan areas to more sparsely populated rural districts.
Age dependency ratios provide an internationally recognised way to describe the balance between the working-age population (aged 15–64) and those considered economically dependent—specifically, children aged 0–14 and adults aged 65 and over.
In 2023, the total age dependency ratio for the State was 50.6%. This means there were just over 50 dependents for every 100 people of working age. The total dependency ratio was slightly higher for women (51.1%) than for men (50.0%), a difference driven by higher old-age dependency among women (23.6% compared with 21.3% for men). In contrast, the young dependency ratio was marginally higher for men (28.7%) than for women (27.5%).
The young dependency ratio—defined as the population aged 0–14 as a percentage of the working-age population—was 28.1% at the national level. This varied considerably across the country, as shown in Map 2.2. Dublin City had the lowest ratio at 20.0%, followed by Galway City at 22.6%. The highest ratios were recorded in Laois (32.0%) and Cavan (31.9%).
The old dependency ratio, representing those aged 65 and over relative to the working-age population, was 22.5% for the State. Map 2.3 shows that Mayo (30.0%) and Leitrim (29.4%) had the highest old dependency ratios. The lowest were recorded in Fingal (16.0%) and Kildare (17.9%).
Map 2.4 presents the average age of the population in each Local Authority in 2023.
The national average age was 38.5 years. Fingal had the youngest population at 36.3 years, followed by Meath at 36.8. The oldest populations were recorded in Kerry and Mayo (both 40.5), and Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown at 40.4.
The average age for women in the State was 39.0 years, one year higher than for men at 38.0. In all counties and cities, the average age for women was higher than for men.
Map 2.5 displays the Administrative Population and average age for each Electoral Division in 2023.
Three Electoral Divisions had populations exceeding 30,000. Two of these were located in Dublin, and the third was in Meath.
The three Electoral Divisions with the smallest populations were located in Clare and Donegal.
Two Electoral Divisions had an average age above 50: Dereen in Clare and Tahilla in Kerry.
Data on nationality is derived from information collected by the Department of Social Protection and provides almost full coverage across the Administrative Population. In IPEADS 2023, this data represents over 200 nationalities and 23 were estimated to have over 10,000 people.
IPEADS 2023 estimated that just over 81% of the Administrative Population or 4,426,136 people had Irish nationality.
Outside of Irish nationals, there were estimated to be 10 nationalities with over 20,000 people in the Administrative Population. The bar chart below displays results for these nationalities:
Latvian, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian and Brazilian nationals were estimated to have less than 50,000 people in the Administrative Population. Combined, these nationalities accounted for just above 3% of the Administrative Population in 2023.
Five nationalities have over 50,000 people in the Administrative Population. These included UK (147,393), Polish (122,445), Romanian (84,514), Indian (78,068), and Ukrainian (74,085). The percentage contribution to the overall Administrative Population varied from 1.4% to 2.7% for these nationalities.
It is also interesting to assess the Male and Female breakdown across the nationalities estimated from the Administrative Population. For Irish nationals there is close to a perfect 50/50 breakdown across Sex, with slightly more women (2,220,626) than men (2,205,510).
The stacked bar chart below displays the percentage for men and women within over 35 nationalities based on the Administrative Population, 2023.
For ten nationalities, over 55% of their estimated Administrative Population were women. These include Ukrainian, Canadian, American (US), Mexican, Russian, Latvian, Zimbabwean, Spanish, German, and Filipino nationalities. Close to 62%, or 45,593 people were estimated to be female Ukrainian nationals. The next largest share was for Canadian and American (US) female nationals at 60% and 58% respectively. The corresponding percentages for Mexican, Russian, Latvian, Zimbabwean, Spanish, German, and Filipino female nationals was between 55% and 57%.
A similar pattern was observed for men, where over 55% of the Administrative Population were male within seven nationalities. These include Georgian, Pakistani, Turkish, Romanian, Portuguese, Croatian, and Nigerian nationalities. The largest percentages were for Georgian nationals (69% or 2,876 men), Pakistani nationals (64% or 9,953 men), Turkish nationals (63% or 3,920 men), Romanian nationals (60% or 50,292 men), and Portuguese nationals (58% or 8,653 men). The other two nationalities had similar estimates of men with just below 10,000 men estimated for Croatian and Nigerian nationalities, or 56% and 55% respectively.
Newly active persons identified within the Administrative Population are those that were not active on any administrative systems in the previous year (in IPEADS 2022) but are active in IPEADS 2023. These include new-borns, new migrants, and returning migrants. It is also possible that during 2023, some were not active on any administrative systems (be it education, training, employment or in receipt of any payments from DSP), but they may have appeared in previous years.
The clustered bar chart below shows the nationality of newly active persons for the Administrative Populations of 2022 and 2023.
Irish nationals were excluded from the chart as a large part of that cohort relate to newborn children. There are six nationalities with above 8,000 newly active people as determined by the 2023 Administrative Population. These were Ukrainian (35,707), Other (31,921), Indian (22,758), Brazilian (14,149), Romanian (12,972), and UK (8,421) nationals. All these nationalities had above 6,500 newly active people estimated in the 2022 Administrative Population, with large increases for Brazilians (up 106%), Indian (up 102%) and Other nationalities (up 107%).
It is also interesting to examine the sex breakdown in the newly active people. The stacked bar chart below examines the sex distribution across the nationalities with over 2,000 newly active people as per the 2023 Administrative Population.
For four nationalities, over 52% of their newly active Administrative Population were women. These nationalities included American (US) (1,412 women), Ukrainian (20,909 women), Filipino (1,553 women) and Spanish (3,225 women). Close to 60% of newly active American (US) nationals were women, the corresponding percentage was 59% for Ukrainian women, 53% for Filipino and Spanish women.
For five nationalities, over 56% of their newly active Administrative Population were men. These nationalities included Romanian (8,847 men), Pakistani (1,778 men), Portuguese (2,272 men), Polish (3,292 men) and the UK (4,769 men). Just above 68% of newly active Romanian nationals were men, the corresponding percentage for both Pakistani and Portuguese men was 63%. For Polish and UK nationals the percentages of men in the newly active population were 58% and 57% respectively.
Determining a person’s principal economic status (PES) from administrative data involves a specific approach, described in detail in the Background Notes. Unlike Census or Labour Force Survey data, which are based on self-reported responses, this methodology uses linked administrative records.
Figure 2.7 shows the distribution of principal economic status by sex for persons aged 15 and over. For the purpose of this release, the labour force includes those at work and those classified as unemployed.
In April 2023, the total labour force was estimated at 4,430,627, representing 65.5% of all persons aged 15 and over.
While women make up a larger share of the population aged 15 and above, men account for a greater proportion of those at work. Women are more likely to be recorded in the “looking after home or family” and “student or pupil” categories.
In Figure 2.8 we can see the proportion of persons at work and unemployed in each Local Authority.
Industry group data is derived from administrative sources, using the classification logic outlined in the Background Notes. This approach differs from the method used in the Census, which relies on self-reported responses.
Figure 2.9 presents the number of persons at work by industry group and sex. The distribution highlights notable differences between male and female employment patterns.
A significantly higher number of men were employed in construction, while more women worked in health and social work. Employment in public administration and defence was also higher among women. This category includes state administrative functions, such as health, education, social services, defence, and fire services.
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