Ireland is the EU country with the highest birth rate, according to new figures from Eurostat, the EU’s official statistics body.
Eurostat’s first demographic estimate of the EU27 showed that Ireland’s birth rate per 1,000 is 18.1, followed by the UK at 13, France at 12.9 and Estonia 12.2.
The lowest rate is in Germany at 8.3. Malta, Austria and Bulgaria are at 9.2.
The report also showed that the death rate in Ireland is the lowest at 6.1 per 1,000. This would be due to the relatively young age of the population. This would also partly explain Ireland’s relatively high birth rate. Iteland is followed by Cyprus with a death rate for 1,000 of 6.6, Luxembourg 6.9 and Malta at 7.7. The country with the highest is Bulgaria where it is 14.2 per 1,000, Latvia 14 and Lithuania 13.2.
Consequently, Ireland has the highest natural population growth of all the EU countries, +12.0 per 1,000. By comparision, other EU countries actually have naturally decreasing populations. For example, Bulgaria’s population naturally decreased by 4.8 per thousand, while Latvia and Hungary saw population declines of 3.2 per thousand and 3.1 per thousand respectively.
The EU’s economic lynchpin, Germany, saw a natural decline in its population of two per thousand.
As of January 1, the population of the EU27 is 499.7 million.
Fine Gael MEP for Dublin Gay Mitchell said: “The high birth rate is particularly welcome as it will mean there would be more people available to contribute to pensions, which will be drawn on for longer given the equally welcome news that Ireland has the lowest death rate in the EU.”
The report said the EU27 population grew by 4.4 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2008, due to natural population growth of +1.1 and net immigration of +3.3. In total, the EU27 population is estimated to have increased by 2.2 million in 2008.
In 2008, three-quarters of the increase in the EU27 population is estimated to have come from immigration.
In relative terms, Ireland again leads the way for immigration at +14.1 per 1,000 inhabitants, Slovenia was next at 12.6, Luxembourg at +11.9 and Cyprus +11.7.
In contrast, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have more emigration than immigration.
