Ireland’s younger and growing population bucks EU trend

Ireland had the highest birth rate in the EU in 2021

Despite Ireland's population being younger than the EU average, Finance Minister Michael McGrath says pension costs are set to skyrocket. Photo: Damien Storan — © PA

Sarah Collins

Ireland continues to have one of the EU’s youngest and fastest-growing populations, according to the bloc’s statistics agency – despite population ageing.

Birth rates in Ireland outpace our EU neighbours, even though first-time mothers here are older than in most other countries.

Ireland's overall population has grown 30pc in the last two decades, Eurostat said, the third-fastest rate in the EU. Only Luxembourg (43pc) and Malta (31pc) grew faster.

EU average population growth in the period was 4pc, while Lithuania and Latvia both saw population decline of around 20pc.

The median age in Ireland was 38.8 years last year, the second-lowest in the 27-member EU after Cyprus, and almost 10 years younger than the median age in Italy.

However, Ireland’s median age has increased by six years since 2002, at a slightly faster rate than the EU average.

Still, Ireland has the highest share of under-20s in the EU, at 26pc, though that figure is declining.

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And Ireland has the EU’s joint-lowest share of over-65s, at 15pc in 2022, the same as in Luxembourg.

Ireland had the highest birth rate in the EU in 2021, Eurostat said, with 12 live births per 1,000 people.

Ireland also had the lowest death rate in the EU that year, at 6.8 deaths per 1,000 people.

It means the rate of natural population change was positive, at 5.2, the highest in the EU.

The bloc’s population fell on average in 2021 (-2.7 per 1,000 people), with the largest decreases in Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania.

Irish mothers tend to be older than their EU counterparts.

The average age of first-time mothers here was 31.2 in 2021, compared to 29.7 in the EU. Italy and Spain had the bloc’s oldest first-time mothers, at 31.6 years of age, while Bulgaria had the youngest at 26.5.

And Ireland had the fifth-highest share of births to mothers over 40, at 8.4pc of all live births.

The highest was Spain at just over 10pc.

Despite the figures, Government estimates show the ratio of working age people to pensioners is set to halve in the next decade, meaning the income tax take will decrease and pension costs will rise.

This week Finance Minister Michael McGrath outlined plans for a sovereign wealth fund which would set aside a portion of Ireland’s windfall corporation tax receipts to help pay for future age-related costs.

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