THE Irish population may be on course to hit the 5 million mark next year after new figures reveal it stood at 4.9m earlier this year.

New figures reveal that the population grew by 64,500 people in the year to last April.

All regions saw a population increase in those 12 months, ranging from 0.5pc growth – or 2,600 people - in the mid west to 25,100 people or 1.8pc growth in Dublin.

The population of Dublin was estimated to be almost 1.4 million people, or 28pc of the total population.

In a tweet economist Dan O’Brien said today’s population figures suggest the Irish Republic’s population will reach five million this time next year.

A total of 88,600 people immigrated to Ireland in the year to April and 30pc of them were returning Irish nationals.

However, Irish nationals made up almost 53pc of the 54,900 people who emigrated during the same period.

There were 62,700 non-Irish nationals living in the country, accounting for just under 13pc of the population.

“The combined effect of positive net migration and sustained natural increase resulted in population growth of 64,500 or 1.3pc in the year to April 2019,” said statistician James Hegarty. “This annual increase brings the population estimate to 4.92 million in April 2019.”

Meanwhile, the economy added 45,000 jobs in the first six months of this year bringing the number of people in work to 2.3 million, according to the data from the Central Statistics Office.

The numbers showed that the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.2pc and that more of the long-term rate fell to 1.7pc from 2pc as strong economic growth created new jobs with 28 consecutive quarters of new jobs.

“We continue to see strong employment,” MrHegarty said.

Despite the positives in the release on Tuesday, there are some weaknesses as the participation rate of women remains low and there are regions – the Midlands and Southeast among them - where the number of people out of work remains well above the national average.

The participation rate among women was 56pc.

The strongest jobs growth came in transport and education, but there were losses in agriculture and forestry.

Separate data on migration showed that 19,700 migrants arrived from the UK in the year to April.

Online Editors