The State's population is expected to reach five million by 2021, the Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said in his foreword to the latest National Development Plan.
The population, which in 2002 was 3.9 million, is now estimated to be approximately 4.2 million.
The Central Statistics Office estimates that out of the extra 1.1 million people who will be living here in 2021 as against in 2002, immigrants will comprise 520,000.
In terms of percentages, the figures mean the population grew by 7.7 per cent in the 2002 to 2006 period, or at an average of 1.9 per cent a year. The expectation is that the population will grow by 19 per cent in the period 2006 to 2021, or at an average of 1.26 per cent per year.
With such population growth, it makes more sense to look at Gross National Product (GNP) per head of population, rather than GNP, in order to measure increasing wealth.
CSO figures show that GNP grew to €161 billion from €104 billion in the period 2000 to 2005, a rise of 54.8 per cent. Per capita GNP rose to €31,697 from €28,041 in the same period, a rise of only 12.9 per cent.
