asked the Taoiseach the number of people who have emigrated from this country since 1980; and if he will give details for each year to the present year.
Written Answers. - Emigration Statistics.
403.
The only reliable estimates of migration flows are those for net migration between successive Censuses of Population. The estimates for these periods are obtained by relating intercensal population changes to data for births and deaths in the same period. In the April 1979 to April 1981 intencensal period, the estimate of net migration was some 5,000 outwards or 2,500 per annum.
For periods since the 1981 Census only very tentative estimates of net migration can be made based on provisional population estimates. Such provisional population estimates are compiled annually following detailed consideration of all available relevant indicators. These estimates, however, and the implied net migration estimates derived therefrom are subject to revision when the results of a later Census of Population become available.
The provisional mid-April 1984 population estimate is some 92,000 above the 1981 Census figure. The excess of births over deaths in the same period was 110,000. Thus for the three year period April 1981-April 1984 it is tentatively estimated that there was a net outward migration of some 18,000 or 6,000 per annum.