ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a general overview of demographic and social change than to pick out those changes which have aroused the greatest interest in the political sphere and outline what they have entailed. It utilizes political prominence as a rough criterion by which to identify the topics to focus on, but there is no attempt to examine the political significance of those topics in any detail. The changes in demographic behaviour just outlined reflect a weakening of the hold of Catholic belief and practice over social behaviour in Ireland — and indeed for many this may be their most significant feature. The chapter reviews contrasting ‘progress’ and ‘decline’ aspects of Ireland’s recent demographic and social history. Quantitative recovery in population since 1960 has been accompanied by qualitative population development as a result of the sustained increase in human capital investment which has occurred over the same period.
