A EUROSTAT survey released today shows that Ireland has the highest birth rate and lowest death rate in the EU.

Ireland’s birthrate was recorded as 16.85 per 1,000 inhabitants. The country closest to Ireland in terms of birthrate was the United Kingdom at 12.8, then France at 12.7, Cyprus 12.2 and Sweden 12.0.

The lowest birth rate was in Germany at 7.9, then Austria at 9.1, Portugal 9.4, Italy 9.5, and finally Latvia and Hungary – both 9.6 – per 1,000 inhabitants.

Ireland scored lowest on national death rate at 6.6 per 1,000 inhabitants, meaning that it is the country with the highest natural growth of population. The other countries that scored low on death rate were  Cyprus 6.7, Luxembourg 7.3 and Malta 7.8 per 1,000 people.

The highest scoring countries in terms of death rate were Bulgaria and Latvia both -3.6, Hungary -3.4 and Germany -2.3 per 1,000 people.

However, Ireland also had the highest rate of migration. Last year, 9% of the population emigrated.

The closest country to Ireland in term of outflow of people was Lithuania – but even their rate was less than half of Ireland’s.