Ireland Experiences Population Growth Due to Increasing Immigration Rates
According to the Central Statistics Office, the highest number of immigrants since 2007 has arrived in Ireland – a total of 120,700 of those. As per emigrants, 59,600 people left the country to live elsewhere, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
“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,” the Central Office for Statistics explains in a commentary.
Moreover, the net migration this year increased to 61,100, while those rates stood at 11,200 in 2021, representing a 445 per cent surge. This five-fold increase in net migration has caused a 161 per cent increase in population to occur, surging to 88,800 in 2022 from 34,000 in 2021.
In addition, the usually resident Irish population has been estimated to be 5.1 million, with 1.45 million or 28.4 per cent of the population living in the Dublin capital.
Furthermore, 4.3 million out of the total inhabitants are Irish nationals, representing 86.2 per cent of the population, while the immigrants make up 13.8 per cent of the rest or 768,900. The number of immigrants to Ireland is estimated to have increased by just above 85 per cent to 120,700 from 65,200 when compared with 2021.
The number of emigrants also surged over the same period from 54,000 to 59,600. These combined numbers gave positive net migration, indicating more people came than left.
Apart from migration, the Irish population also witnessed 28,900 nationals returning to live in Ireland while 27,600 left to live abroad.
“The number of immigrants was the highest since the year to April 2007 and consisted of 28,900 returning Irish nationals, 24,300 other EU nationals, 4,500 UK nationals, and 63,000 other nationals including Ukrainians,” the commentary reads.
In addition, more people have celebrated more than 65 years of life as of April of 2022, with this number reaching 768,900. This indicates a surge of 22.1 per cent or 139,100 more people, representing the highest rates recorded since 2016. Moreover, those aged 65 and over now have a population share of 15.1 per cent of the total, more than the 13.3 per cent share recorded in 2016.
The Central Statistics Office points out that net migration is at a ten-year high, with the trend in the population being quite similar to net migration recorded in 1987.
