Demographics

Population

4,670,976 (July 2011 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 21.1% (male 503,921/female 483,454)
15-64 years: 67.3% (male 1,581,959/female 1,560,238)
65 years and over: 11.6% (male 246,212/female 295,192) (2011 est.)

Median age

total: 34.8 years
male: 34.5 years
female: 35.1 years (2011 est.)

Population growth rate

1.061% (2011 est.)

Birth rate

16.1 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)

Death rate

6.34 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)

Net migration rate

0.86 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 62% of total population (2010)
rate of urbanization: 1.8% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.057 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 3.85 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 4.24 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 3.44 deaths/1,000 live births (2011 est.)

Nationality

noun: Irishman(men), Irishwoman(women), Irish (collective plural)
adjective: Irish

Ethnic groups

Irish 87.4%, other white 7.5%, Asian 1.3%, black 1.1%, mixed 1.1%, unspecified 1.6% (2006 census)

Religions

Roman Catholic 87.4%, Church of Ireland 2.9%, other Christian 1.9%, other 2.1%, unspecified 1.5%, none 4.2% (2006 census)

Languages

English (official, the language generally used), Irish (Gaelic or Gaeilge) (official, spoken mainly in areas along the western coast)

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%
male: 99%
female: 99% (2003 est.)