IRELAND’S POPULATION HAS risen to 5.46 million people, according to the latest estimates from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The figures reveal that the number of people emigrating from Ireland to Australia is at its highest since 2013.

In contrast, the number of people immigrating to Ireland from the United States has seen a significant jump in the last year as Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Population of Ireland reaches 5.46 million people in April 2025https://t.co/WLgNHpDsPQ#CSOIreland #Ireland #Population #PopulationEstimates #Migration #MigrationEstimates pic.twitter.com/FgU32Sxwn7

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) August 26, 2025

New figures from the CSO detail Ireland’s most recent population and migration data.  

In the 12 months to April 2025, there were 54,400 new infants born, while 35,800 people died.

During the same period, 125,300 people immigrated to Ireland, a 16% decrease compared with the same period the previous year.

Of those, 31,500 were returning Irish citizens, 25,300 were other EU citizens, 4,900 were UK citizens, and 63,600 were citizens of other countries.

There was a fall in emigration numbers for the first time since 2020, with 65,600 people emigrating. 

It marked a decrease of 4,300 people, or 6.2%, compared with 69,900 in the same period of 2024.

Irish citizens made up the majority of the population (83.7%), while the remaining 16.3% are non-Irish citizens.

In the 12 months leading up to April 2025, 13,500 people left Ireland to go to Australia, an increase of 2,900 (27%) from 2024 and 8,800 (187%) from 2023.

The CSO said it is the highest level of emigration to Australia since 2013, when an estimated 14,100 people emigrated to the country.

Around 6,100 people have left Ireland to live in the US in the last year, up from 5,000 in 2024 (22%).

There was a big jump (94%) in the number of people moving from the US to Ireland, up from 4,900 in 2024 to 9,600 in 2025.

Demographics

Dubliners make up 28.7% of the population, adding up to 1.568 million. 

Related Reads

Ireland had the second most expensive food prices in the Eurozone last year

Taoiseach acknowledges prices are 'elevated' - and gets told to 'wake-up' to the cost of living

Cork, the next most populous county, had a population less than half the size of Dublin’s at 612,900.

Galway, Kildare and Meath follow with populations of 292,700, 253,600 and 225,100 respectively. 

Nine counties had a population of fewer than 100,000 people: Laois, Offaly, Cavan, Roscommon, Sligo, Monaghan, Carlow, Longford and Leitrim, with Leitrim having just 36,600 residents.

There were 861,100 people aged 65 and over, an increase of 159,700 (22.8%) since 2019.

At the other end of the age spectrum, there were just over a million young people up to the age of 14 as of April.

This young group made up less of the population now than it did in 2019, falling from 20.5% to 18.3% of the total population, a decrease of 15,400.