Ireland's population was estimated at 4.86 million as of April 2018, said the country's national statistics bureau CSO on Tuesday.

This represented an increase of 64,500 people in the country's total population while compared with the estimated figure in April 2017, said the CSO in a press release posted on its website.

Between April 2017 and April 2018, an estimated 90,300 people immigrated to Ireland while the number of people who emigrated from the country stood at 56,300 with a net inward migration of 34,000 people, said the CSO.

The natural increase of the country's population during the above-mentioned period stood at 30,500 people, it said.

The natural increase refers to the number of births after deduction of deaths.

Of all the immigrants in the period mentioned above, 28,400 or 31.5 percent were returning Irish nationals, said the CSO, adding that the number of Irish nationals who emigrated from the country during the period stood at 28,300, accounting for 50.3 percent of the total.

The last population census in Ireland was conducted by the CSO two years ago, which showed that the country's population stood at 4.74 million in April 2016.