Ireland had highest birth rate and lowest death rate in EU for 2017 - Eurostat
Ireland had the highest EU birth rate in 2017, according to new figures from Eurostat.
The number of births here last year was 12.9 babies per 1,000 residents.
According to Eurostat, the population of Ireland now stands at 4.8 million.
Jonathan Claridge is from the European Commission office in Dublin - he says the figures show we also had the lowest death rate last year at 6.3 per 1,000 inhabitants.
He said: "These latest figures show us that compared to other EU countries Ireland had the fourth highest increase in population in 2017, the number of inhabitants grew by just under 52,000.
But what is particularly striking about Ireland is that it actually had the highest birth rate and lowest death rate in the EU giving us the largest natural rise in population.
