It’s getting crowded ’round these parts: more babies, fewer deaths

We are not now nor have we ever been a large country – but we are certainly getting bigger. 

In fact, when it comes to population growth, Ireland is booming. Last year, there were 4,605,500 of us knocking around; this year, that's swelled to 4,625,900.

According to Eurostat, we continue to have the highest birthrate in Europe, and the second lowest rate of deaths (behind only Cyprus): 66,500 babies were born here with only 29,300 deaths occurring. 

 

In contrast, 700,000 babies were born in Germany, but 875,000 Germans died.

However, with 16 percent of the total EU population (81.2million people), Germany continues to be the most populated EU country, ahead of France (66.4million residents) and the United Kingdom (64.8million residents).

On 1 January 2015, the population of the European Union was 508.2million, compared with 506.9 million the year before.

In March, Ibec chief executive Danny McCoy said the island of Ireland can expect to hit a population of 10million before 2050.