Ireland has one of the fastest ageing populations in Europe, according to new EU data. While the median age of the EU’s population increased by 2.2 years between 2014 and last year, Ireland’s increased by 3.6 years. The median population age across the EU is 44.7.

The median age in Ireland is 39.4 in Ireland chiefly because we had higher fertility rates on average for longer than most of the rest of the EU, resulting in a somewhat younger population. However, Ireland’s fertility rate is now 1.5, well below the replacement level of 2.1 and in line with the EU average.

A median age of 44.7 years means that half the population of Europe was younger than this while half was older. Across the EU, it ranged from 39.4 years in Ireland to 48.7 years in Italy.
The increases were recorded in all EU countries, except Malta (-0.7 years) and Germany (-0.1 years).

The ageing of the population was most pronounced in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Slovakia, with the median increasing by 4.0 years. The median age in Cyprus, Spain and Poland increased by 3.8 years.

Immigrants on average are only two years younger than the native-born population.

Compared with the native-born population, foreign-born people were overrepresented between the ages of 20 and 54, while they were underrepresented in both the younger and older age groups. In total, 59.7% of the foreign-born population was between the ages of 20 and 54, compared with 42.1% of the native-born population.

Over 70 bodies were found in a church in a village in Lubero of the Democratic Republic of Congo after a suspected Islamic attack according to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

On 12 February, rebels from an Islamist terrorist group, originally from Uganda, entered the village of Maiba and took approximately 100 people hostage.

Three days later, 70 bodies were discovered inside a Protestant church.

“Many of them had been bound and some beheaded. Among the victims were women, children and the elderly,” said ACN’s source.

Regarding the motive of the massacre and the group’s modus operandi, the source adds: “It is likely that these victims were unable to resist or endure the forced march, because when the rebels take hostages, they make them travel with them, either as reinforcements for their group or as forced labour for the war effort. When there is loot, they need people to carry it. If you get tired on the way, you’re done. I believe that is what happened to these 70 people.”

A woman in America who unknowingly carried and delivered a baby boy who was not biologically hers is launching legal proceedings against an IVF clinic over the mix-up, after being forced to give up custody of the child to the child’s biological parents.

Krystena Murray, from the state of Georgia, became pregnant after IVF treatment at the Coastal Fertility clinic in May 2023.

But it became clear that the embryo she had been carrying in fact belonged to another couple – after Ms Murray gave birth to a boy who was of a different ethnicity to both her and the sperm donor she had chosen.

Despite the error, Ms Murray wanted to keep the child, and raised the baby for several months until the biological parents were granted custody.

In a statement released through her lawyer, Ms Murray said: “To carry a baby, fall in love with him, deliver him, and build the uniquely special bond between mother and baby, all to have him taken away. I’ll never fully recover from this.”

The rise of the far-right could speed up the population decline of Europe creating economic shocks including slower growth and soaring costs from pensions and elderly care, according to an article in the left-leaning Guardian newspaper.

While the continent’s native population is expected to fall sharply in an era of very low birth rates, inward immigration could help stem the decline, but closing borders would cut off that lifeline, says the piece.

The latest projections produced by Eurostat suggest that the EU’s population will be 6% smaller by 2100 based on current trends – falling to 419 million, from 447 million today.

But, without immigration, the agency projects a population decline of more than a third, to 295 million by 2100. This assumes immigration continues at the present level for the next 75 years which is not guaranteed as most people now live in countries with below replacement level fertility rates.

At the same time, experts stress that immigration is not a silver bullet for Europe’s demographic challenges, instead suggesting it is a partial solution, or at least a way to ease the transition to an older society.

“Increasing immigration levels will not solve these demographic problems on their own – the levels required to do so would be very large, and there are only so many migrants who are willing to move,” said John Springford, an associate fellow at the Centre for European Reform thinktank.

Planning for Ireland’s falling fertility rate is now a strategic issue facing the new Government, according to a leading economist. The fertility rate is now 1.5. The level needed to keep your population level without immigration is 2.1.

Writing in the Irish Times, John Fitzgerald said society is rapidly ageing, while birth rates continue to drop steadily. The CSO projects that by 2057 around 30pc of the population will be over 65, double the present level, even with high immigration.

“This means . . . a lower share of people of working age will be supporting a growing number of pensioners and their health and care needs”.

He noted that there is still a “limited understanding” of what factors are driving fertility decline, adding that most countries that have tried to halt the trend have looked to policies such as better child benefits or ones that make it easier to combine a career and family life such as better childcare and parental leave.

However, citing the Nobel Prize-winning economist Claudia Goldin, he said that such measures, while good for women’s and children’s health, had little impact on arresting the decline in birth rates.

Young people know much more about contraception than about fertility according to the latest ESRI reports while a large cohort of young women regret their first act of sexual intercourse.

Knowledge of the best method for STI prevention is high among young people aged 20 (with over 80 per cent of young men and women correctly identifying condoms).

However, knowledge of fertility (specifically the period during the female menstrual cycle when pregnancy is most likely to occur) is much lower, with just 21 per cent of men, and 37 per cent of women, answering correctly.

Furthermore, young women were significantly more likely to express regret over the timing of first sex than young men (a quarter of young women thought that it had happened ‘too soon’, in contrast to 10 per cent of young men who thought it had happened ‘too soon’). Later age of sexual initiation was associated with a lower probability of perceiving that first sex had occurred ‘too soon’.

Rebuilding strong, stable families would reignite economic growth and lessen the need for Government spending, leading to a more prosperous society.

That’s according to the macroeconomist and financial analyst, Philip Pilkington, who presented a paper on the topic at the ARC Forum in London.

Low fertility rates, mental health issues, drug abuse, or criminality are all deeply tied to family breakdown, so restoring stable family formation is a hidden key to unlocking long-run economic growth, he said.

“Our national deficits are a symptom of social malaise. Family breakdown is driving spiralling public debt. Evidence reviewed in this paper provides an overview of a variety of costs to the state, from social care to mental health to crime—and shows that the family touches every area of policy”.

“It is time to reframe how we think about economic growth and realise that there is more to it than productivity. It is time to recognise the importance of a productively employed population and how it is driven by labour force participation and population growth. If we are to see an uptick in our demographic trends and a reversal of the downward trajectory in labour force participation, we must restore the family”, he concluded.

MPs who previously supported the UK’s assisted dying bill have announced that they will change their vote after a major safeguard was ditched from the proposed legislation.

The bill’s author, Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, announced she would drop the requirement for a High Court judge to adjudicate ‘assisted dying’ requests, and instead use a commission of psychiatrists and social workers to approve applications.

The dramatic move has already changed the perspective of some MPs.

Reform’s Rupert Lowe had already indicated that he would be voting against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at third reading, having been unconvinced by the committee-stage scrutiny of the bill after initially voting in favour.

Now his party colleague Lee Anderson has joined him in opposing the legislation.

Liberal Democrat grandee Alistair Carmichael had also backed the bill at second reading, but is now rethinking his support.

Meanwhile, The Independent understands that a further 140 MPs who voted in favour are now in play to change their votes. The bill passed the second-reading stage with a majority of 55, and only 28 would need to change their minds for it to fail.

Men are significantly more romantic than women according to a new study that points to innate differences between the sexes.

The research combined the findings of more than 50 previous psychological and sociological papers and found that overall, women may be relatively unsentimental in matters of the heart.

The data showed men tending, on average, to fall in love faster and more often, to yearn for a partner more and to confess their love first.

When it came to break-ups, they were also less likely to initiate them, with about 65 per cent of “relationship dissolutions” instigated by women.

Following a separation, men tended to suffer more. “They often see fewer positives [emerging from] the break-up, experience fewer positive emotions such as relief or joy, feel lonelier, and even have a more pronounced increase in suicide risk — in some studies, it even doubles,” said Iris V. Wahring of the Humboldt University of Berlin, lead author of the new paper.

The study found that men also tend to benefit more from being involved in a relationship, in terms of mental health and life expectancy. For instance, one previous paper reported that men’s risk of an early death increased by 27 per cent following a spouse’s death; for women it rose by only 15 per cent.

Irish people are healthier than their EU peers, but an ageing population will pose challenges for the health service into the future, according to a new report.

The Department of Health’s Health In Ireland Key Trends 2024 is an annual publication outlining trends in health and healthcare in Ireland over the past decade, and highlighting the challenges healthcare faces into the future.

Since 2015, the population has grown by 14.8pc – the population aged 65 and over grew by 36.5pc between 2015 and 2024.

Last year, the percentage of the population aged 65 and over stood at 15.5pc. Based on projections in the Department of Health’s report, that figure will rise to 23.8pc by 2044.

Rising life expectancy and an ageing population will put increasing pressure on the health service in the years to come, an issue that needs to be addressed according to Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.