In Ireland, its population is estimated to have surpassed the mark of five million, although 70 years ago there were 2.19 million less people in the Western European country, British public broadcaster BBC reports.
According to the data of the Irish Central Statistics Office, it is the first time that the population has risen above five million since the 1851 census when the comparable population was 5.11 million. The five million mark also shows an increase of 2.19 million on the census of 1961.
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Positive net migration and a natural increase have been mentioned as the reasons for the upward trend as the body registered a population growth of 34,000 in 12 months.
As to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2021, more than 30,000 Irish people returned to live in Ireland, while 22,000 Irish people went to live abroad. «That’s only the third time since 2010 that more Irish have returned than left,» statistician James Hegarty told Irish broadcaster RTÉ, BBC reports.
Ireland’s population grows rapidly over 70 years, reaching five million
