Ireland's population crossed 5.5 million in the year to April, driven by the fifth straight year of six-figure immigration even as inflows slowed and the workforce aged rapidly. The Central Statistics Office put the total at 5.526 million across the 26 counties, an increase of 66,900. With Northern Ireland at 1.93 million in 2024, the island now holds roughly 7.5 million people.
Migration slows but stays elevated
An estimated 110,600 immigrants arrived in the 12 months to April, a 12 percent drop from the same period in 2025. Emigration fell for a second consecutive year to 62,500, down 3,100. The combined flows yielded net migration of 48,100, a 19 percent decline from the 59,700 recorded a year earlier. The headline is not a reversal, it is a moderation from extraordinary highs.
The aging workforce problem
The over-65 cohort reached 891,100, lifting its share of the population from 14.4 percent in 2020 to 16.1 percent last month, a gain of 165,000 people. At the same time, the under-14 group slipped below one million for the first time since 2014, landing at 992,400. Its share dropped from 20 percent to 18 percent, a loss of 21,300. The dependency ratio is moving in the direction every finance minister dreads.
Dublin keeps pulling weight
The capital's pull strengthened. Dublin accounted for 28.9 percent of the state's residents in April, up from 28.3 percent six years earlier, with 1,597,700 people now living there. Housing, infrastructure and public service planning are all calibrated to a demographic center of gravity that keeps shifting east.
What the numbers mean for policy
Slower net migration eases immediate pressure on accommodation but does not solve the structural mismatch between an expanding retiree population and a shrinking pipeline of future workers. Tax revenue projections, pension liabilities and care-sector staffing all assume a labor force that the current birth rate and migration trajectory may not deliver. The CSO's next release will show whether the 2025 dip in immigration was a blip or the start of a new trend.