Number of 20-somethings down by 250,000 in six years - and it's mostly not emigration

The number of people in their 20s living in Ireland has declined by more than a quarter.

The latest statistics from the CSO show the age bracket has dipped by almost 250,000 in the last six years.

Economist Dan O'Brien said: "When I looked at it first, I thought it was to do with emigration, but when you look more closely emigration actually only accounts for about 70,000.

"Most of it is to do with something that happened decades ago - in 1980 the number of babies born in Ireland starts to fallen very sharply and continued to fall until the 1990s."