IRELAND’S POPULATION

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3492, 30 October 1926, Page 9

IRELAND’S POPULATION

DROPS TO 2,973,803. Much disappointment has been expressed in Dublin at the preliminary report of the census, which shows a decline. The returns for Northern Ireland had shown a slight increase; but the Saorstat (Free State) population shows a slump of 166,886, or 5.S per cent. The population is now 2.972,802. The Free State has 973 women to every .1000 men. This is accounted for by the greater proportional increase of women emigrants, especially to the United States. The statistical officer accounts partly for decreased population bynoting that the withdrawal of the British Army and its dependents diminished the population by about 34,000 and that 27,405 Irish soldiers wore killed in the European war. The Free State birth rate is comparatively low. being 31.1 per thousand, following a low marriage rate. The death rate is 16 per thousand and the emigration rate B.S per thousand. Of persons born in .Ireland, 1,8.17, 457 arc living out of the country, an equivalent of 43 per cent of the present population. Norway is said to be next in this respect, but its proportion is only 14. S per cent. A feature of the returns is th» steady flow of the rural population to the towns, though the Free State lives by agriculture and has few urban industries. Dublin City has increased its population by 21,000 to 419,115, including suburbs.