Population Grows with Ireland Immigration Drive
The Ireland Immigration Drive has done much to attract immigrants to the country. This has caused a substantial increase in Ireland’s population according to the recent figures provided by the CSO or the Central Statistics Office. In the fiscal year ending April 2007, there was a total record of 109,500 immigrants who have entered the country. This total was about 2,000 more than the previous fiscal year.
The CSO has been tracking this figure since the year 1987. So far, the specific immigration statistics in 2007 is substantially higher than any other figure since 1987. On the other hand, even the emigration from Ireland has increased, according to the CSO figures. The statistics show that in the year 2007, there were about 42,200 people leaving the country. It has been the highest record since the early 1990s.
Though statistics for immigration continues to grow, the net migration has fallen. It reached a record high of 71,800 back in April 2006 and has declined to 67,300 in April 2007. However, the population in Ireland continues to grow with natural increase of 38,800 for April 2007. Add to that the net migration in the same year and you get the population increase of 106,100. It brings the total population of the country to about 4.34 million in the same period. With those statistics in mind, you will notice how almost two-thirds of the increase came from immigration.
Almost half of the immigrants or 48 percent were nationals of the new members of the European Union who joined between 2004 and 2007. More than half of the immigrants in 2007 were between 25 and 44 years of age. There were also those aged between 15 and 24 years of age who took up 28 percent of the figure.