Ireland sees sharp rise in Muslims

In 30 years’ time Ireland will be a more religiously diverse country and Islam will be the second largest religion according to latest predictions from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

A significant increase in the non-Catholic population is predicted for the Republic by 2046 which will see not only the Muslim population increase but also the number of people of no religion and the number of Orthodox Christians. 

The report, “Population and Labour Force Projections 2016-2046”, presents population projections under a number of contrasting scenarios relating to future trends in migration, fertility and mortality for each year from 2011 to 2046.

The 2011 census figures reveal that 3.8 million people or 84 per cent of the population identify themselves as Catholic, 92 per cent of whom are Irish while the remaining 8 per cent belong to a range of nationalities. Polish and UK migrants account for over half of these non-Irish Catholics. While the proportion of the population who are Catholic has declined to its lowest point, the overall number is the highest since records began.

The 2011 CSO figures also show significant increases in the non-Catholic population in Ireland from 1991 to 2011 due to migration from Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Other Christian Churches have seen the benefits of migration in sustaining and increasing their congregations, while the Muslim population has also seen a sharp rise over the years 2006-2011.

As of April 2011, there were 49,204 Muslims in the Republic (1.1 per cent of the population) making Islam the country’s third largest religion. This is up from 0.1 per cent in 1991. CSO predictions suggest that by 2043, Islam will become the Republic’s second largest religion after Catholicism when the Muslim population is expected to be more than 100,000.

There has also been a substantial increase in the number of Orthodox Christians, totalling 45,223 as of April 2011, up from 20,768 in 2006 and four times greater than the number recorded in 2002 (10,437). Romanian Orthodox account for a quarter of all Orthodox Christians in Ireland.