Getting older

The population of Ireland has been getting steadily older since the 1980's. There is an increasing proportion of people in the older age groups, as illustrated in Figure 1.1 which presents the population in each age group from 1926 up to 2016.

In Census 2016, 37.2 per cent of the population were 45 years or older compared to 34.4 per cent in 2011 and 27.6 per cent in 1986. The proportion of children and young adults aged less than 25 years old was 33.2 per cent in 2016 and this has been steadily declining since the late 1970's when 47.9 per cent of the population were in this age cohort. Persons aged 25 - 44 years old made up 29.5 per cent of the population in 2016 down from 31.6 per cent in 2011.

Figures 1.2 and 1.3 shows the age structure of the female and male population from 1926 to 2016. Between 2011 and 2016, the number of females aged 65 and over increased by 16.7 per cent to 340,730, while males aged 65 and over increased by 22 per cent to 296,837 since 2011.

Interactive table: StatBank Link EY002

Age structure 2016

The population pyramid in Figure 1.4 presents the age structure of the population by single year of age and sex as recorded on Census Night 2016. The very high births in the late 1970s and early 1980s combined with increasing immigration in the 2000s are a strong distinguishing feature of the graph. There is a clear contrast with the sharp fall in births in the late 1980s and early 1990s and recent emigration trends since 2010. The baby boom from 2008-2012 is seen as the bulge at the bottom of the chart of children aged 4-8 years old. In more recent years, we again can see the effect of the decline in births as the population pyramid tapers in. 

The changing structure of the population over time can be seen by clicking on a census year below:

1961 1966 1971 1979 1981 1986 1991 1996 2002 2006 2011 2016

Interactive table: StatBank Link EY007

Sex ratio by age

There were 978 males for every 1,000 females in the state in April 2016. Figure 1.5 presents the data by age group. .

In the 0-14 year old age group there are consistently more boys than girls, with 1,046 boys for every 1000 girls in 2016. Among those aged 15-64 the ratio reversed between 2006 and 2016 falling from 1,024 to 980. Among the older age group of 65 and over there are consistently more females than males, as is well illustrated by the graph, although the gap has been narrowing since it reached a low point of 749 in 1996.

Figure 1.6 shows how age and urban/rural areas affect the sex ratio. There is little difference in the sex ratio in urban and rural areas for children aged under 15. Women in their 20s are more likely to have moved into urban areas than men, while there are more men than women living in rural areas. The sex ratio in urban and rural areas is quite similar for both men and women in their 30s and early 40s. The difference is most noticeable for people aged 45 and over. In rural areas, there are more men than women in the 45 to 79 age group and the reverse is true in urban areas.