Securing Fairness and Wellbeing in a Land of Plenty 2005- Population

Ireland's Growing Population: An Emerging Challenge Aidan Punch

The principal focus of this chapter is projecting the population of

Ireland. This will draw on the work we have carried out in the Central

Statistics Office (CSO) on national population and labour force

projections2 and more recently on regional population projections3.

Some of the issues which will be touched on are the likely magnitude

of the young, old and working age populations, the mix between Irish

and foreign born persons, labour market movements and regional

projections.

The chapter will also touch on related topics such as different

household types, the changing urban/rural mix and commuting

patterns. However, these will not be based on formal projection models

but rather on observing past trends and postulating about the likely

shape of future developments.