Ireland People Profile 2012

On January 1, 2006, Ireland had 4,209,000 inhabitants, or 99,800 more than a year ago or 2.37%. The increase recorded since January 2005 was due to a positive natural balance of 33 600 people and an equally positive net migration of 66,200 net immigrants. With a net immigration rate of 1.59%, Ireland has become, as well as Spain and Cyprus, one of European countries where immigration of foreigners is the most intense. In comparison, if immigration to France had been a similar rate in 2005, there were more than 900,000 net immigrants this year.

In 2005, the fertility rate of women in the country was 1.99 children per woman on average, the second highest rate in Europe after Iceland (2.05 children per woman) and just before that of metropolitan France (1.92) who obtained third place in this classification.

The population growth rate is relatively new in the country. It is due to the relatively young population, a high birth rate for Europe and especially to high immigration.

It is a relatively new phenomenon: the demographic growth has begun in the 1960s. Previously, the region was heavily depopulated. It had 6.5 million inhabitants in 1841 , and passes 5.1 million in 1850 due to a severe famine accompanied by massive emigration. The emigration continued during the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century, and has more than offset the natural increase. The overall population has continued to decline until the 1960s: 3.2 million inhabitants in 1901 and 2.8 million in 1961.

From that date the population grew again . In the 1990s, and more the 2000s, the immigrant population has increased sharply. In 2006, 14% of residents were born outside the Republic of Ireland. Most come from Europe, the United Kingdom for more than half of Eastern Europe for a large and rapidly growing