NEW figures have revealed that immigration levels into Ireland are at a 17-year high.
Data released by Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) today show that in the year to April 2024, the population in Ireland rose by 98,700 people.
That is the largest 12-month population increase since 2008.
Over the same period the nation welcomed 149,200 immigrants, a 17-year high, which marked the third successive 12-month period where over 100,000 people immigrated to Ireland.
Of those immigrants, 30,000 were returning Irish citizens, 27,000 were other EU citizens, and 5,400 were UK citizens.
The remaining 86,800 immigrants were citizens of other countries.
Immigration is at a 17-year high in IrelandIn the same period over 69,000 people left Ireland for new shores, an increase on the 64,000 people who left in the same period of 2023.
This year’s emigration figure is the highest recorded in Ireland since 2015.
Commenting on the data, Eva Leahy, CSO’s Statistician in Population Estimates and Projections, said: "Ireland's population was estimated to be 5.38 million, rising by 98,700 people in the year to April 2024.
“This was the largest 12-month population increase in 16 years since 2008 when the population rose by 109,200.
“The number of immigrants, or those entering the State, in the year to April 2024 was estimated to be 149,200, while the number of emigrants, or those leaving the State, over the same period was estimated at 69,900.
“These combined flows gave positive net migration (more people having arrived than left), of 79,300 in the year to April 2024, compared with 77,600 in the previous year.”
Those who emigrated out of Ireland included 34,700 Irish citizens, 10,600 other EU citizens, 3,000 UK citizens, and 21,500 other citizens including Ukrainians.
The figures further show that Ireland is an aging nation, as 833,300 people living there aged 65 and over in April 2024.
Those aged 65 and over also showed an increase in population share between 2018 and 2024 - increasing from 13.8 per cent to 15.5 per cent of the total, a volume increase of 156,800 people.
And the number of people living in Dublin now stands at 1,534,900 - an increase on the proportion of the population from 28.1 per cent of the total in 2018 to 28.5 per cent of the total in 2024.
