ABSTRACT
Demographic trends and characteristics have many varied socio-economic, political and environmental repercussions and represent 'population problems' when they give rise to governmental or public concern. The effects of population growth are more difficult to assess from a problem orientated perspective and it is hard to discern government perceptions concerning the merits of population growth and related problems, particularly in the Irish Republic. The major consideration involved in assessing population growth concerns its interrelationship with economic development. There are important linkages between economic and demographic factors and economic conditions have an important influence on population characteristics, affecting, in particular, migration patterns which, in turn, influence population size and structure. High and sustained rates of emigration represent a major demographic characteristic of the populations of Northern and Southern Ireland and have had a large number of socioeconomic and psychological effects.
