DUBLIN, August 20, 2008 (AFP) - The number of immigrants coming into Ireland has dropped sharply, with arrivals from EU newcomer states falling by 37 percent in the last year as the economy slows, official data showed Wednesday.

With Ireland's so-called Celtic Tiger economy stalling and the country threatened by recession, the overall number of immigrants dropped to 83,800 in the year to April compared to 109,500 in the previous year.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said immigration from the mostly ex-communist states which joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 showed the greatest fall, dropping to 33,700 compared to 52,700 last year.

Irish emigration also increased marginally to 45,300 from 42,200 in the year to April 2007 with most going to other EU states. Of the 19,800 emigrating to the 'rest of the world', 11,300 were going to Australia and Oceania.

Like neighbouring Britain, Ireland enjoyed a near decade long economic boom starting in the 1990s, helping turn the immigration tide after generations of young Irish people left to seek their fortune overseas.

But a slowdown in recent years, accelerated by last year's US-triggered global credit crunch, is beginning to bite in the Irish economy.

The unemployment rate surged to 5.9 percent in July, the highest rate since April 1999, official figures showed earlier this month.

Ireland's birthrate is meanwhile soaring: the 72,300 births during the year to April was the highest figure since 1980. The population in April was estimated to be 4.42 million, a 1.9 percent increase in a year.