Booming Irish birth rate highest in the EU

IRELAND has the highest birth rate in the EU, with almost 4.2 million people now living in the Republic.

The record birth rate combined with the lowest death rate and continuing high levels of immigration has pushed the population to its highest level since pre-Famine times.

Although the number of new immigrants arriving in the Republic is slowing down, Ireland still has the third-highest rate of immigration in Europe.

The first preliminary EU population estimates for 2005 show Ireland’s population grew by almost 84,000 with net migration accounting for the majority of the increase.

It is estimated an extra 47,200 immigrants moved to Ireland over the past 12 months, although immigration fell by around 0.5% to 11.4 new arrivals per 1,000 population.

Around 63,500 births and 26,900 deaths were also recorded last year - indicating the population would have grown 0.9% if immigration was excluded.

Irish population figures are in sharp contrast to most EU countries, which are expected to experience a slowdown in their population growth in 2005.

Ireland has the highest birth rate within the EU at 15.3 births per 1,000 population - the EU average is just 10.5.

Due to Ireland’s relatively young population, it is unsurprising the Republic is set to record the lowest death rate within the EU, at 6.5 deaths per 1,000. It is estimated the number of deaths fell by 4.5% last year.

The figures provided by Eurostat, the EU Statistical Office, show the Republic had the second-highest population increase within the 25 EU countries at just over 2%. Only Cyprus at 3.1% is expected to show a bigger increase in its population. Overall, the EU population is set to increase by around 2 million people to 461.5 million, or just under 0.5%, largely as a result of the arrival of around 1.7 million immigrants. Over half of all new immigrants are accounted for by just Italy and Spain.

Several Eastern European countries including Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland all recorded a drop in population, in part as a result of migration towards countries in the original EU-15 member states.

Germany and Hungary also reported a slight fall in population, while Italy, Slovenia and the Czech Republic would also have experienced a decline without a net influx of immigrants.

Immigration into the EU last year is also expected to show a decrease on previous figures. Estimates indicate there was an 8.7% reduction with a net inflow of under 1.7 million migrants to the EU in 2005, compared to over 1.85 million in 2004.