Ireland’s population tops five million for the first time since 1840s

Number of residents increased by 8 per cent since 2016, new census data shows

The population of Ireland has risen to 5,149,139, an increase of 8 per cent since 2016. PA

Ireland’s population has surpassed five million people for the first time since the Great Famine, which devastated the country nearly two centuries ago.

Census data showed that the Republic of Ireland's population has risen to 5,149,139 – an increase of 8 per cent since the last census in 2016, making it one of the fastest-growing countries in Europe.

After decades of continuous decline in the Irish population since 1841, the population is now 83 per cent higher than its low point in 1961 when the total was 2.8 million.

Ireland's relative population boom has been fuelled by a rise in immigration, and the reduction in emigration that has historically blighted the country for much of the past two hundred years.

The number of people with dual Irish citizenship was 170,597, which represents a 63 per cent increase from 2016.

One in five of the population said they were born outside of Ireland and nearly 750,000 people indicated they could speak a language other than Irish or English.

Foreign workers have been attracted by Ireland's buoyant economy, much of which is the result of significant investment from American multinational corporations in the technology and pharmacological sectors.

Ireland's GDP is currently forecasted to remain above 5 per cent for the next two years, far above its neighbour Britain, which has flirted with recession this year.

Catholicism on the decline

The proportion of the Irish population who identified Catholic fell from 79 per cent in 2016 to 69 per cent in 2022, but it was argued that this could be partly due to the change in the phrasing of the census question.

The question changed from asking what religion a person holds to including “if any” at the end and having “no religion” as the first of the multiple choice options listed.

The number of people responding with ‘no religion’ grew from 10 per cent in the 2016 census to 14 per cent in 2022.

There was an increase of almost 390,000 people living in Ireland between 2016 and 2022, with statisticians saying that this was because of the natural increase – the number of people who died subtracted from the number of people born in Ireland – and net migration – the number of people arriving minus the numbers of people leaving Ireland.

Country getting older

Between 2016 and 2022, the average age has increased from 37.4 years to 38.8 years, and the number of people who have non-Irish citizenship has increased from 11 per cent to 12 per cent.

Statisticians from the Central Statistics Office, who explained the results on Tuesday, said that there was evidence of an ageing population in the 2022 census results.

Older age groups grew in size while the younger ones declined, they said, adding that the highest increases in population numbers were seen among the over 70s.

There was a 7 per cent fall in the number of people under 10 years of age, and a 4 per cent fall in the number of people aged 25 to 39.

There was a drop from 87 per cent to 83 per cent in the proportion of people who reported their health was good or very good since 2016.

Around a third of all workers, or 747,961 people, worked from home for at least some part of their week.

The census was carried out on Sunday, April 3, 2022.