Population (in millions) from 1841 - 2006

The initial, ancient settlers of Ireland were migrants from tribes in modern-day Iberia and southern France [1]. Modern-day Irish people are mainly of Gaelic ancestry, and although some of the population is also of English, Scottish (also often Gaelic), Anglo-Norman, Viking and Welsh ancestry, these groups have been assimilated and do not form distinct minority groups. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 550 pixelsFull resolution (1292 × 889 pixel, file size: 38 KB, MIME type: image/png) (All user names refer to en. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 550 pixelsFull resolution (1292 × 889 pixel, file size: 38 KB, MIME type: image/png) (All user names refer to en. ... A minority or subordinate group is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant plurality of the total population of a given society. ...

Celtic culture and language forms an important part of national identity. The Irish Travellers are an ethnic minority group. This article is about the European people. ... Irish Travellers (sometimes known as tinkers because they worked repairing tin ware) are a nomadic or itinerant people of Irish origin living in Ireland, Great Britain and the United States. ... A minority or subordinate group is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant plurality of the total population of a given society. ...

For centuries a nation of emigrants, Ireland from the 1990s has attracted immigrants from a number of nations both within Europe and elsewhere.

Language

The official languages are Irish and English. However, English is the predominant language used today. People living in Irish-speaking communities are limited to the low hundreds of thousands in isolated pockets largely on the Western seaboard and in Dublin and other urban areas. All schoolchildren are taught the Irish language as a compulsory part of the school curriculum with a relatively small (though growing) number of schools teaching all subjects in Irish. Public signs are usually bilingual and there are both a national Irish language TV (TG4) and radio channel (Raidió na Gaeltachta). The Shelta language is spoken by anywhere between 6000 and 25000 people-predominantly members of the travelling ("Gypsy") community-but has no official status. An official language is a language that is given a unique legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... TG4 is an Irish television channel aimed at Irish language speakers and established as a wholly owned subsidiary by Radio Telefís Éireann in 31 October 1996; it was known as Teilifís na Gaeilge or TnaG before a rebranding campaign in 1999. ... RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (RnaG; Irish for Gaeltacht Radio) is the Irish-language radio service of Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ) in Ireland, and is available on 92-94FM in Ireland and via the Internet. ... Shelta (also known as Gammen, Sheldru, Pavee, or simply the Cant) is a language spoken by parts of the Irish Traveller people that is often used to conceal the meaning from those outside the group. ...

Religion

The Republic of Ireland is officially 86.8% Roman Catholic. However there has been a massive decline in adherence to Roman Catholicism among Irish Catholics. Between 1996 and 2001, regular Mass attendance, already previously in decline, declined from 60% to 48%. (It had been 90%+ in 1973.) The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... This article discusses the Mass as part of Christian liturgy, in particular the form it has taken in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church. ... Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ...

All but two of its priest-training seminaries have either closed or are expected to close soon. The Roman Catholic Church was hit in the 1990s by a series of sexual scandals, including the resignation of one bishop who had fathered a child by a divorced cousin and the notorious case of child sexual abuser Fr. Brendan Smyth. In recent years, another bishop has been forced to resign over his incompetent handling of paedophile priests in his diocese. Father Brendan Smyth (1927-1997) was a Northern Ireland-born Norbertine Order Catholic priest. ...

The second largest religion, the Church of Ireland (Anglican), with a largely elderly membership, had until recently been in decline. It had been forced to close down many of its rural churches, and even some in urban areas. However, recent immigration of thousands of African Anglicans has buoyed the Church's following. A similar phenomenon is also affecting the very small Jewish community in Ireland, which is ageing and sees many of its younger adherents emigrating to Israel. The religions showing major growth are Islam (See Islam in Ireland) and small born-again Christian faiths associated with Ireland's growing immigrant communities. The Church of Ireland (Irish: ) is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... The documented history of Islam in Ireland dates to the 1950s. ... Born again is a soteriological term used primarily in the Evangelical, Fundamentalist, and Pentecostal branches of Protestant Christianity, where it is associated with salvation, conversion and spiritual birth. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      A Christian () is a person who...

The country also has a small Jewish community with 1,930 members, according to the census of 2006. The History of the Jews in Ireland extends back nearly a thousand years. ... 1870 US Census for New York City A census is the process of obtaining information about every member of a population (not necessarily a human population). ...

General demographics

Population pyramid of Ireland, 2001

A graph showing the populations densities of Ireland and Europe since 1750. Prior to the Great_Irish_Famine, Ireland was one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Today the population density is increasing to the level of the European average after dipping below it during the 20th century.

# Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This distribution is named for the pyramidal shape of its graph. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 550 pixelsFull resolution (1295 × 891 pixel, file size: 41 KB, MIME type: image/png) (All user names refer to en. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 550 pixelsFull resolution (1295 × 891 pixel, file size: 41 KB, MIME type: image/png) (All user names refer to en. ... Great Irish Famine may also refer to Great Irish Famine (1740-1741) This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

Population: 4,234,925 (2006 Census)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 20.6% (male 438,100; female 415,200)
15-64 years: 68.14% (male 1,418,600; female 1,398,300)
65 years and over: 11.15% (male 202,300; female 258,300) (2005 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.5% (2006 Census.)

Birth rate: 14.47 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate: 7.91 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate: 11.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 Census.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.78 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2006 Census)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 5.5 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 6.04 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 4.92 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 77.36 years
male: 74.74 years
female: 80.15 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.87 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.1% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS 2,400 (2001 est.)

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

Ethnic groups: Irish, Irish Travellers, Ulster-Scots, some recent immigrant populations (inc. Poles-officially the second largest ethnic minority in Ireland (after the British), Chinese, Nigerians, Lithuanians, English, many more) Since the accession of the 10 new Eastern Europeans nations, Ireland has experienced a substantial influx of Poles, Lithuanians, Slovaks, Latvians and Estonians of whom there are currently at least 103,495 people. 63,276 of these are Poles. Non-Irish nationals now make up 10% of the population. There are also an estimated 16,533 Chinese and 16,300 Nigerians in Ireland [2]. Irish Travellers are a nomadic or itinerant people of Irish origin living in Ireland, Great Britain and the United States. ... Ulster-Scots is a term mainly used in Ireland and Britain (Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irishis commonly used in North America) primarily to refer to Presbyterian Scots, or their descendents, who migrated from the Scottish Lowlands to Ulster (the northern province of Ireland), largely across the 17th century. ... Languages English Religions Christianity (Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism and other minority denominations), and other faiths. ...

Religions: Roman Catholic 90.4%, Presbyterian 6.5%, Church of Ireland 2.95%, Methodist 0.25%, Jewish 0.05% other 0.27% (2002) The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Presbyterianism is part of the Reformed churches family of denominations of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin which traces its institutional roots to the Scottish Reformation, especially as led by John Knox. ... The Church of Ireland (Irish: ) is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. ... The Methodist movement is a group of denominations of Protestant Christianity. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination...

Languages: English is the more commonly used language, Irish (Gaelic) is spoken mainly in the Gaeltacht located along the western seaboard although it is spoken by some in Dublin and other urban areas (with 340,000 in 2002 census claiming daily usage, although this includes usage in school, where Irish is compulsory), Eastern European languages (mostly Polish, about 65,000 speakers), Chinese spoken by recent immigrant groups The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Goidelic languages (also sometimes called, particularly in colloquial situations, the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) have historically been part of a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland. ... Gaeltacht regions in Ireland Gaeltacht (pronounced ; plural Gaeltachtaí) is an Irish word for an Irish-speaking region. ...

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

See also

• Republic of Ireland
• Ireland
• Poles in Ireland
• Lithuanians in Ireland
• Black people in Ireland

There is a thriving Polish community in Ireland. ... Logo of Lithuanian Association in Ireland Most of Lithuanian immigrants arrived to Ireland in 2000s when Irish economy started booming. ... Since the mid-18th century there were small numbers of black people resident in Ireland, mainly concentrated in the major towns, especially Dublin. ...

External links

• Irish Central Statistics Office
• Historical Census Data
• Marketing Ireland

References

• Oppenheimer, S. 2006. Origins of the British. (also contains information regarding the origins of the Irish)