Population of Ireland increases to over 5.5 million

Michael Bolton

The population of the Republic of Ireland has increased to 5.52 million, figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

This is an increase of 66,900 people in the 12 months to the end of April.

Of the population, 4.94 million are Irish citizens, making up 83.2 per cent of the country.

The CSO also confirms that 931,000 of the population are non-Irish citizens.

Since 2020, there has been a 22.7 per cent increase in the number of people 65 and over in the country.

The number of people aged between zero and 14 years fell below one million to 992,400, the first time this age bracket fell under one million people since 2014.

The number of births continued to decline, with 55,000 people under the age of one year living in Ireland, a decrease of 19,900 people in 16 years.

There were an estimated 110,600 immigrants. This was a 12 per cent decrease from the corresponding period ending in April 2025 and was the fifth successive 12-month period in which over 100,000 people immigrated to Ireland.

There was a fall in emigration numbers for the second year in a row with an estimated 62,500 people departing the State.

This was a decrease of 3,100 people when compared with the same period up to April 2025.

There was positive overall net migration of 48,100, a decline of 11,600 people or 19 per cent from 59,700.