Census 2011 figures show the number of non-Irish nationals living in Ireland increased by 143 per cent to more than half a million between 2002 and 2011
Date Published: 05-10-2012
Overview
In April 2011, there were 544,357 non-Irish nationals (12 per cent of the resident population) from 199 different nations living in Ireland.
Polish nationals were the largest nationality grouping. This group showed a 93.7% increase from 63,276 persons in 2006 to 122,585 in 2011. UK nationals were the second largest group with 112,259 living in Ireland in 2011. A small number of nationalities recorded a decrease between 2006 and 2011, most notably US and Australian nationals.
The gender breakdown of non-Irish nationals enumerated in April 2011 was even. 60 per cent were in the 22-44 year age group, compared with 32 per cent for Irish nationals.
Labour force
- Almost 58 per cent of non-Irish nationals aged 15 and over were at work compared to 49 per cent of Irish nationals.
- Just over 11 per cent of Irish nationals are unemployed compared to almost 17 per cent of non-Irish nationals.
- A higher proportion of Irish nationals than non-Irish nationals are students, looking after family or at home, retired or unable to work.
- There were 268,180 non-Irish nationals at work in Ireland (15.1 per cent of total workforce) in April 2011. Polish and UK nationals accounted for 116,375 workers or 43.4 per cent of all non-Irish workers.
Top five non-Irish nationalities at work in Ireland:
- Polish (69,473)
- UK (46,902)
- Lithuanian (19,753)
- Latvian (10,782)
- Indian (8,397)
Socio Economic Group
- 16 per cent of non-Irish nationals fell into the top two socio-economic groups (Employers and Managers/Higher Professional) compared with 23 per cent of Irish nationals.
- Almost 27 per cent of non-Irish nationals fell into Manual-Skilled/Semi and Unskilled groups compared with 19 per cent of Irish nationals.
Students
There were 49,915 non-Irish students and pupils over the age of 15 living in Ireland in 2011. The largest nationality groups were:
- UK (8,277)
- Polish (4,586)
- Chinese (3,533) and
- Nigerian (2,860)
Education
- Of the Irish population who stated that they had finished their education 27.1 per cent held a third level degree or higher. This compares with 31.3 per cent of non-Irish nationals who professed to be finished their education.
- Of those non-Irish nationals resident in Ireland who had finished their education, Indian nationals had the highest percentage of persons with a third level degree or higher (77.3%) followed by Filipinos (64.5%) and US nationals (55.9%). Nationals from Latvia (10.9%), Lithuania (15.5%) and Romania (17.1%) had below average rates.
Recent Immigration
- Of the 53,267 people who arrived in Ireland in the year prior to April 2011, 33,340 were non-Irish nationals (62.5 per cent) with 4,112 coming from Poland and 4,072 from the UK. Over two thirds of this non-Irish group were between the ages of 15 and 34 and almost 60 per cent were single.
Religion
- Almost 90 per cent of Irish nationals identified themselves as Roman Catholic compared to 52 per cent of non-Irish nationals.
Ethnicity
- Overall almost 74 per cent of non-Irish nationals identified themselves as of white ethnicity; 7 per cent of black and 12 per cent of Asian ethnicity.
- Almost 40 per cent of people of Black ethnicity were Irish nationals.
For more information:
Analysis of detailed nationality groups by socio economic class, economic status, religion and ethnic group can be found in our Useful Statistics section.
View Census 2011 Profile 6 Migration and Diversity - A profile of diversity in Ireland
Read ESRI Research Note 2012/2/3: The Impact of Recession on Migration: A Preliminary Analysis of Census 2011, Pete Lunn