Migration fuelling record growth

A record number of people came to live in NI last year, according to a government report on population growth.

The population of 1.7 million increased by 15,000, which was double the average for the last 10 years.

The Statistics and Research Agency said there were 8,000 more births than deaths, while more people came to live in Northern Ireland than emigrated.

It said the number of migrants coming from the rest of the UK and further afield was a record at more than 6,500.

The agency said this was partly due to the European Union expansion in 2004, with many people from eastern European countries moving to Northern Ireland.

Significant growth

Within Northern Ireland, the Dungannon area saw the largest population increase of 2.9%, which is almost four times the 0.8% average.

Significant population growth was also reported in the local government districts of Armagh (1.6%), Ballymoney (1.7%), Banbridge (2.3%) and Craigavon (1.8%).

Population fell in the districts of Belfast (-0.4%) and Castlereagh (-0.2%) - the decrease in Belfast was primarily due to residents of the north and west of the city moving to other parts of Northern Ireland, the agency said.

North Down had the highest proportion of people of pensionable age (19.8%), while Londonderry and Limavady local government districts had the least (12.7%).

North Down also had the lowest proportion of children (18.8%) while Newry and Mourne had the highest at 25.2%.

Overall, the agency said the number of under 16s declined by 0.6% (from 383,300 to 381,200) between 2004 and 2005, reflecting the falling birth rate during the 1990s.

In the ten-year period between 1995 and 2005 the number of children fell from 416,500 to 381,200, which is a drop of 8.5%.

POPULATION CHANGE MID 2004 TO MID 2005
	June 04	Births/Deaths			Migration		July 2005
Antrim	49,800	700/400			500		50,500 (1.4%)
Ards	74,600	900/700			400		75,300 (0.8%)
Armagh	54,900	800/400			500		55,800 (1.6%)
Ballymena	60,000	800/500			400		60,700 (1.2%)
Ballymoney	28,300	400/200			300		28,700 (1.7%)
Banbridge	43,800	600/300			700		44,800 (2.3%)
Belfast	269,000	3,300/2,800			-1,500		268,000 (-0.4%)
Carrickfergus	38,700	400/300			300		39,200 (1.2%)
Castlereagh	65,800	700/600			-200		65,700 (-0.2%)
Coleraine	56,500	700/500			-100		56,600 (0.1%)
Cookstown	33,700	500/300			200		34,100 (1.3%)
Craigavon	83,200	1,200/600			1,100		84,700 (1.8%)
Derry	106,900	1,500/800			-300		107,300 (0.4%)
Down	66,800	900/500			400		67,400 (1.0%)
Dungannon	49,300	800/400			1,000		50,700 (2.9%)
Fermanagh	59,300	700/600			300		59,700 (0.7%)
Larne	30,900	400/300			100		31,100 (0.5%)
Limavady	34,000	400/200			-100		34,100 (0.4%)
Lisburn	110,200	1,400/800			900		111,500 (1.2%)
Magherafelt	41,300	600/300			200		41,800 (1.3%)
Moyle	16,400	200/100					16,500 (0.6%)
Newry/Mourne	90,300	1,400/700			600		91,600 (1.4%)
Newtownabbey	80,300	1,100/700			200		80,800 (0.7%)
North Down	77,600	800/800			600		78,300 (0.8%)
Omagh	50,100	700/300			300		50,700 (1.3%)
Strabane	38,700	500/300			-100		38,700 (0.2%)
OVERALL	1,710,300	22,400/14,400			6,700		1,724,400 (0.8%)
Source: NI Statistics and Research Agency