The demographics of the Republic of Ireland are characterized by a growing and gradually ageing population, with population growth driven by both natural increase and sustained net immigration, the latter becoming increasingly significant in recent decades. As of the 2022 Irish census, the population of the state stood at 5,149,139. More recent estimates from 2025 by the Central Statistics Office indicate the population has continued to expand to over 5.4 million. As of 2025, Eurostat data indicates that approximately 23.3% of the state's resident population is foreign-born, predominantly from the United Kingdom.
While the country enjoys a high life expectancy of approximately 80.2 years (78 years for men and 82.6 years for women), it is currently experiencing significant demographic change. Fertility rates have fallen to approximately 1.7 children per woman, which is below the replacement level of 2.1, and the national birth rate has declined to roughly 10.5 births per 1,000 population.
During the 1960s, the population started to grow once more, although slowly as emigration was still common. In the 1990s the country entered a period of rapid economic growth as a result of the Celtic Tiger Irish economic boom, and the Republic started to receive immigration. Many former Irish emigrants returned home, and Ireland became an attractive destination for immigrants, from other member states in the EU such as Central Europe, but also from outside the EU such as Africa, Asia and elsewhere. With the 2008 onset of the Irish economic and banking crisis, the state's economy suffered, and Ireland has once again been experiencing net emigration of its citizens, but immigration remains high.
In November 2013, Eurostat reported that the Republic had the largest net emigration rate of any member state, at 7.6 emigrants per 1,000 population. However, it has the youngest population of any European Union member state and its population size is predicted to grow for many decades, in contrast with the declining population predicted for most European countries. A report published in 2008 predicted that the population would reach 6.7 million by 2060. The Republic has also been experiencing a baby boom, with increasing birth rates and overall fertility rates. Despite this, the total fertility rate is still below replacement depending on when the measurement is taken. The Irish fertility rate is still the highest of any European country. This increase is significantly fuelled by non-Irish immigration – in 2009, one-quarter of all babies born in Ireland were born to foreign-born mothers.
Population
The population of Ireland was 5,123,536 people in 2022.
Demographic statistics as of 2019.
- One birth every 8 minutes
- One death every 16 minutes
- One net migrant every 90 minutes
- Net gain of one person every 14 minutes
; Geographic Population Distribution
Urban population (areas with >1,500 people): 62.0% (2011)
Rural population: 38.0% (2011)thumb|360px|A graph of the populations of the island of Ireland and Europe from 1750 to the present showing Ireland's "massive" population spike in the early 19th century and subsequent collapse due to the 1845–49 famine and subsequent emigration.
Fertility
The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman.
{| class="wikitable " style="text-align:right"
|-
! Year !! 1850!!1851!!1852!!1853!!1854!!1855!!1856!!1857!!1858!!1859!!1860
:0–14 years: 21.37% (male 554,110 /female 529,067)
:15–24 years: 11.92% (male 306,052 /female 297,890)
:25–54 years: 42.86% (male 1,091,495 /female 1,080,594)
:55–64 years: 10.53% (male 267,255 /female 266,438)
:65 years and over: 13.32% (male 312,694 /female 362,455) (2018 est.)
Median age; total: 37.1 years
: male: 36.8 years
: female: 37.5 years (2018 est.)
Vital statistics
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: right;"
|+ style="text-align: left;" | Vital statistics for Ireland since 1900
|-
!
! |Population (1 April)
! style="width: 12%;" |Live births
! style="width: 12%;" |Deaths
! style="width: 12%;" |Natural change
! style="width: 12%;" |Crude birth rate (per 1000)
! style="width: 12%;" |Crude death rate (per 1000)
! style="width: 12%;" |Natural change (per 1000)
! style="width: 12%;" |Crude migration (per 1000)
! style="width: 12%;" |Total fertility rate
|-
| 2024
| 5,380,300
| 54,062
| 35,173
| 18,889
| 10.0
| 6.5
| 3.5
| 14.7
| style="color: red"| 1.50
|-
| 2025
| style="color:blue"| 5,458,600
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 10.9
|
|}
Current vital statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+
|-
! Period
! Live births
! Deaths
! Natural increase
|-
! January—September 2024
| 40,645
| 26,934
| +13,711
|-
! January—September 2025
| 41,007
| 27,242
| +13,765
|-
! Difference
| +362 (+0.89%)
| +308 (+1.14%)
| +54
|-
! colspan="4" style="text-align: center;" | Source:
|}
Total fertility rates by region
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ 2022
!Regions
!TFR
|-
|Mid-East
|1.75
|-
|Border
|1.74
|-
|South-East
|1.74
|-
|Midland
|1.69
|-
|Northern and Western
|1.66
|-
|Mid-West
|1.66
|-
|Southern
|1.61
|-
|West
|1.60
|-
|Ireland
|1.54
|-
|South-West
|1.51
|-
|Eastern and Midland
|1.47
|-
|Dublin
|1.32
|}
Structure of the population
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width="80pt"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80pt"|Female
! width="80pt"|Total
! width="80pt"|%
|-
| align="right" | Total
| align="right" | 2 272 699
| align="right" | 2 315 553
| align="right" | 4 588 252
| align="right" | 100
|-
| align="right" | 0–4
| align="right" | 182 076
| align="right" | 174 253
| align="right" | 356 329
| align="right" | 7.77
|-
| align="right" | 5–9
| align="right" | 164 037
| align="right" | 156 733
| align="right" | 320 770
| align="right" | 6.99
|-
| align="right" | 10–14
| align="right" | 155 076
| align="right" | 147 415
| align="right" | 302 491
| align="right" | 6.59
|-
| align="right" | 15–19
| align="right" | 144 262
| align="right" | 138 757
| align="right" | 283 019
| align="right" | 6.17
|-
| align="right" | 20–24
| align="right" | 146 636
| align="right" | 150 595
| align="right" | 297 231
| align="right" | 6.48
|-
| align="right" | 25–29
| align="right" | 173 714
| align="right" | 187 408
| align="right" | 361 122
| align="right" | 7.87
|-
| align="right" | 30–34
| align="right" | 194 774
| align="right" | 199 171
| align="right" | 393 945
| align="right" | 8.59
|-
| align="right" | 35–39
| align="right" | 182 237
| align="right" | 182 024
| align="right" | 364 261
| align="right" | 7.94
|-
| align="right" | 40–44
| align="right" | 166 330
| align="right" | 164 482
| align="right" | 330 812
| align="right" | 7.21
|-
| align="right" | 45–49
| align="right" | 151 516
| align="right" | 153 669
| align="right" | 305 185
| align="right" | 6.65
|-
| align="right" | 50–54
| align="right" | 136 737
| align="right" | 137 649
| align="right" | 274 386
| align="right" | 5.98
|-
| align="right" | 55–59
| align="right" | 122 121
| align="right" | 122 401
| align="right" | 244 522
| align="right" | 5.33
|-
| align="right" | 60–64
| align="right" | 109 869
| align="right" | 108 917
| align="right" | 218 786
| align="right" | 4.77
|-
| align="right" | 65–69
| align="right" | 86 298
| align="right" | 87 340
| align="right" | 173 638
| align="right" | 3.78
|-
| align="right" | 70–74
| align="right" | 63 476
| align="right" | 67 714
| align="right" | 131 190
| align="right" | 2.86
|-
| align="right" | 75–79
| align="right" | 46 631
| align="right" | 55 405
| align="right" | 102 036
| align="right" | 2.22
|-
| align="right" | 80–84
| align="right" | 28 423
| align="right" | 41 690
| align="right" | 70 113
| align="right" | 1.53
|-
| align="right" | 85–89
| align="right" | 13 591
| align="right" | 26 296
| align="right" | 39 887
| align="right" | 0.87
|-
| align="right" | 90–94
| align="right" | 4 155
| align="right" | 10 722
| align="right" | 14 877
| align="right" | 0.32
|-
| align="right" | 95–99
| align="right" | 682
| align="right" | 2 581
| align="right" | 3 263
| align="right" | 0.07
|-
| align="right" | 100+
| align="right" | 58
| align="right" | 331
| align="right" | 389
| align="right" | 0.01
|-
! width="50"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80"|Female
! width="80"|Total
! width="50"|Percent
|-
| align="right" | 0–14
| align="right" | 501 189
| align="right" | 478 401
| align="right" | 979 590
| align="right" | 21.35
|-
| align="right" | 15–64
| align="right" | 1 528 196
| align="right" | 1 545 073
| align="right" | 3 073 269
| align="right" | 66.98
|-
| align="right" | 65+
| align="right" | 243 314
| align="right" | 292 079
| align="right" | 535 393
| align="right" | 11.67
|-
|}