Ireland's population

The population of Ireland grew at the fastest rate for 25 years in 2006 with more than twice as many births as deaths adding to an immigration surge.
The population report by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said 64,237 babies were born during the year with 27,479 deaths recorded, the highest natural increase in population since 1982.
There was also a small rise in the average fertility rate which was 1,9 children per woman in 2006. Over 33% of the babies were born outside marriage in Ireland who's population is still mainly Roman Catholic.
The highest percentage of births outside marriage was almost 66% in Limerick city in the south-west of the country.
There were 21,841 marriages registered last year, 486 more than in 2005, and the courts granted 3,466 divorces.

Other recent Irish population statistics
Foreign nationals now make up 10% of Irish population in Ireland on census night last year, according to the latest Census figures examining the ethnicity of the population.

Irish Traveller population
Elsewhere, the figures reveal that the Irish Traveller community has a much younger age profile, with an average age of 18, compared to a national figure of 33.
Two-in-five Travellers were aged under 15 in 2006 compared to the national average of one-in-five. Travellers aged over 65 accounted for just 2.6% of their community, compared to the average of 11% in the general population.
Overall, travellers make up 0.5% of the Irish population, with Of towns with a population of over 5,000, Tuam has the highest proportion of Travellers at 7.7%, followed by Longford (4.6%), Birr (4%) and Ballinasloe (3%).
The average age of Travellers is well below the national average - just 18 years compared to a general average of 33 years.
Irish Travellers life expectancy

Black Irish
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that more than a quarter of black people living in Ireland were born in this country. The data from last year's census released today shows that County Louth has the highest proportion of people with black ethnicity. Black people make up 2.2% of the usually resident population of the county, double the national average of Ireland at 1.1%.
The figures from last year's census also show that 33% of black people in Ireland are Roman Catholic, while more than 16% are Muslim.
Ireland's first Black Mayor elected

Asian Irish
The Census also reveals that the Asian population in Ireland has risen to 52,345. Almost 60% of those live in Dublin. 26% of Asians said they were Catholic, while 22% were Muslim.

Irish Population non-Irish make up
There were 419,733 non-Irish people surveyed out of a population of 4,172,013.
The highest proportion of non-Irish nationals came from parts of Britain at 112,548, (however a very high percentage, if not most are Irish or of Irish stock, being the children of 1st and 2nd generation Irish emigrant stock to parts of Britain in previous years) with the next highest being the Polish community with 63,276 and 46,952 people describing themselves as Asian, with people from Africa accounting for 35,326.

66% of Irish people living in county of birth
Two out of three Irish people still live in their county of birth. Latest census figures reveal that 65% of the state’s 4.2 million population have remained close to home.
People born in Cork city and county were most likely to stay in the area, with 76.9% of its residents being born there.
They are followed closely by Donegal with 73.5%.
But at the other end of the scale, six out of ten people recorded living in County Meath on census night were born outside the county, followed by Kildare where 59% of its residents had moved in.
In recent years, both areas have become commuter belt counties for Dublin’s sprawling population.

Immigrant integration
Immigrants merging into Irish society was also highlighted, the CSO revealed more than 95,000 families across Ireland contain both Irish and non-Irish nationals – a 25,000 jump since last recorded in 2002.
The corresponding number of families containing only persons with non-Irish nationality also increased from 20,187 to 50,655 in the same period, while Irish only families fell from 90% in 2002 to 85.9%.
More than 191,331 of those arrived in the country since 2002, with 122,000 people arriving in the state in the 12 months before the census. Of those 83,000 (68.2%) were single with 51,700 (62.2%) of them in their 20s.

Where are the Immigrants living in Ireland
Data reveals around 150,000 non-Irish nationals were living in Dublin, the highest across the country, representing 13% of its 1.16m population.
Galway city and county was second highest with 10.7%, while Kilkenny had the lowest proportion with 7%.
Almost half of all the residents in the tiny town of Gort, Co Galway, were non-Irish nationals. Out of the town’s usual resident population of 2,646, 1,065 stated their nationality to be other than Irish, with 83.3% – almost 900 – of those being Brazilian.
Ballyhaunis in County Mayo also had a high proportion with 36% of its usually resident population with non-Irish nationality.
Of the 588 persons involved, 327 were EU nationals (mainly from Eastern Europe) and 163 were Asian nationals.

Concern over lack of non-Irish garda recruits
Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan has said he is concerned and disappointed at the low number of people from ethnic backgrounds joining the gardaí.
More than 1,000 recruits are in training but only 11 are non-Irish nationals, which is less than 1%.
Minister Lenihan said he did not accept that the policy for recruiting foreign national applicants had failed but said he was now reviewing the regulations to try and increase the numbers.
Mr Lenihan also said he has ordered a report into the behaviour of the Traveller rights group Pavee Point during the recent controversy involving the Roma people.
Minister Lenihan said he wanted to find out if the publicly funded group had operated outside its remit and encouraged a group of new arrivals to seek to set aside the country's immigration laws.

Register

The Irish Community have posted
5 REPLIES TO THIS TOPIC
for logged in members to view.

Irish Forums Message Discussion :: Ireland's population

Ireland's population