The Religious Consultation
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Agence France-Presse, May 25, 2005 Ireland's population
to jump to five million by 2021 DATELINE: DUBLIN May 25 Ireland's population will increase by about 25 percent to over five million by 2021 according to projections from the country's Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Wednesday. Last year the population of Ireland exceeded four million for the first time since 1871. The study expects numbers in the Greater Dublin area will exceed two million in 2021 making it the most densely populated area in the state. In 1961, when Ireland's population reached a historical low of 2.8 million, only a quarter of the people lived in the Dublin area but it is projected to contain over 40 percent of the total by 2021. The study expects population growth in all of Ireland's eight regions with the fastest growing region expected to be the mid-east where the population is projected to rise by 51 percent. The CSO projections are based on assumptions about the birth and death rate and migration flows. Increased prosperity as a result of the Celtic Tiger's economic boom in the wake of its 1973 EU membership has led to major changes in Ireland which is no longer traditionally a country of emigration and is receiving substantial numbers of immigrants to fill jobs. << Agence France-Presse -- 5/25/05 >>
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