Ireland has had its largest population increase since 2008 according to a report published by The Central Statistics Office (CSO).
By Sadhbh McDonnell
The CSO reported an 88,000 increase in the population between April 2021 to April 2022.
Cathal O’Doherty, Statistician in Population Estimates and projections, stated on cso.ie that, “Ireland’s population was estimated to be 5.10 million, increasing by 88,800 persons in the year to April 2022. This was the largest 12-month population increase since 2008 when the population increased by 109,200.”
In the last 12 months, 60,700 babies were born whilst 33,000 people have died, creating a natural increase of 27,700 to the population of Ireland.
The CSO also stated that “there were 768,900 persons living in Ireland aged 65 and over in April 2022, those aged 65 and over had increased in population share between 2016 and 2022 increasing from 13.3% to 15.1% of the total volume increase of 139,100 persons.”
Immigration was the highest it’s been since 2007, with 120,700 immigrants arriving in Ireland in the last 12 months. 24,300 were other EU nationals, 4,500 were UK nationals and the other 63,000 came from other nations including 28,000 Ukrainians. This comes as no surprise since Putin declared war on Ukraine on February 24th 2022.
The CSO report also shows that more Irish people (approx. 27,600) returned to Ireland then left. Since the last annual report, 28,900 Irish natives returned to Ireland, however, this is less than the previous year, in which 30,200 Irish people returned.
Emigration has increased in 2022, with 59,600 people leaving Ireland, compared to 54,000 in 2021. These statistics align with a recent survey carried out by Red C in association with The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI). The survey found more than 7 in 10 young people across Ireland are considering moving abroad to find a better quality of life.
NYCI’s Paul Gordon, Director of Policy and Advocacy commented on the data collected from the survey, “There is a real fear from young people about what the future holds for them. Many say they’re struggling to make ends meet and quality-of-life considerations are driving them to consider a future outside of Ireland. Government must act to ensure young people aren’t overlooked in this crisis.”
For more information on the population and migration report visit https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-pme/populationandmigrationestimatesapril2022/keyfindings/.