The Irish economy is in a strong position having recovered from the financial crisis and the subsequent recession. In early 2012, the unemployment rate in Ireland was 16% and almost 50,000 Irish people emigrated that year.
At the start of 2019 the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was down to 5.7% a and involuntary emigration has ended.
Central Statistics Office figures show 90,300 people of all nationalities moved to Ireland in the 12 months up to April 2018 . This is an increase from the previous year of 6.7% . The number of people emigrating fell by 13.1% from 64,800 to 56,300. This resulted in a net inward migration of 34,000, the highest level since 2008.
Of the 90,300 people who moved to Ireland here in the 12 months to April 2018, 28,400 (31.5 per cent) were returning Irish.
CSO figures in 2019 show that the number of immigrants arriving in Ireland from the UK was 19,700 in the 12 months to April 2019.
88,600 people moved to Ireland in the 12 months up to April 2019 . This is a decrease from the previous year of 1.9% . The number of people emigrating fell from 56,300 to 54,900 This resulted in a net inward migration of 33,700, the second highest level since 2008.
The total population of Ireland at the 2016 Census was 4,761,865
The population of Ireland has increased by almost 1.9 million over the past 60 years, rising from 2,898,264 in
1956 to 4,761,865 in 2016.
As at April 2019 the total estimated population of Ireland was 4.92 million, In April 2019, there were 622,700 non-Irish nationals resident in Ireland accounting for 12.7% of the total population.
These are the top 10 different nationalities that were living in Ireland at the time of the 2016 census.
Irish 4,082,513
- Polish 122,515
- UK 103,113
- Lithuanian 36,552
- Romanian 29,186
- Latvian 19,933
- Brazilian 13,640
- Spanish 12,112
- Italian 11,732
- French 11,661
- German 11,531