IRELAND has recorded a 16-year immigration high with more than 140,000 people arriving in the country in the course of one year.
Annual figures, published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) this week, show 141,600 immigrants came to Ireland in the 12 months to April 2023 - which is the highest number recorded since the year to April 2007.
Of those immigrants, 29,600 were returning Irish citizens, 26,100 were other EU citizens, and 4,800 were UK citizens.
The remaining 81,100 immigrants were citizens of other countries, including almost 42,000 Ukrainians, the CSO confirmed.
Overall, Ireland’s population rose by 97,600 people in that period, which was the largest 12-month increase since 2008.
Commenting on the data, Cathal Doherty, the CSO’s Statistician in Population Estimates and Projections, said: "Ireland's population was estimated to be 5.28 million, rising by 97,600 people in the year to April 2023.
“This was the largest 12-month population increase since 2008 when the population rose by 109,200.”
He added: “The number of immigrants, or those entering the State in the year to April 2023 was estimated to be 141,600, while the number of emigrants, or those leaving the State, over the same period was estimated at 64,000.
“These combined flows gave positive net migration (more people having arrived than left), of 77,600 in the year to April 2023, compared with 51,700 in the previous year.”
Immigration is at a 16-year high in IrelandThe CSO figures further show that some 64,000 people emigrated out of Ireland in the 12 months to April 2023, compared with 56,100 in the same period of 2022.
This was also confirmed as “one of the highest figures of recent years”.
Of that number, 14,600 people left Ireland to live in the UK.
That figure is up from 13,400 who left Ireland for the UK last year.
In 2023 the number of people moving to Ireland from the UK was 18,400, which was also up from the 12,800 people who made that move in 2022.
There was also a natural increase of 20,000 people in Ireland in the 12-month timeframe, comprised of 55,500 births and 35,500 deaths.
Population trends highlighted through the CSO figures show there were 806,300 people living in Ireland aged 65 and over in April 2023, and 1,338,700 people in the country who were aged between 45-64.
With regards to where they all live, the figures show the proportion of the population living in Dublin has increased from 27.6 per cent of the total in 2011 to 28.4 per cent of the total in 2023 and now stands at 1,501,500 people.
