The population of the Republic of Ireland has reached 5.1 million, It is the highest population recorded in a census since 1841., according to the preliminary results of this year’s census from the Central Statistics Office.
The latest Census data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), shows Ireland’s population on April 3rd, 2022 hit 5,123,536.
There was an increase of 7.6 percent in the population since the last census in 2016, rising from 4,761,865 people in 2016 to 5,123,536 people on the night of the census on April 3rd last.
There were 2,593,600 females and 2,529,936 males recorded, which is an increase of 7.7% and 7.5% respectively.
The population increase of 361,671 was made up of a natural increase (births minus deaths) of 171,338 and an estimated net inward migration (population change minus natural increase) of 190,333.
The counties recording the highest population growth were in Leinster. Longford grew by more than 14%, with Meath, Kildare, and Fingal, also growing strongly.
In contrast to Census 2016, when three counties (Mayo, Sligo, and Donegal) had a fall in their population, the Preliminary Results show that the population of every county has increased since 2016.
In Leinster, 10 of the 12 counties showed a higher percentage increase than the national average, with Offaly (+6.0%), and Kilkenny (+4.5%), being lower.
In Munster, Waterford (+9.4%) had a higher percentage increase than that of the State overall. Both Leitrim (+9.5%) and Roscommon (+8.4%) showed a higher percentage increase than the national rate, while Cavan, Donegal, or Monaghan did not.
The total housing stock on 3 April was 2,124,590, an increase of 6.0% on the 2016 figure.
There were 16,560 fewer vacant dwellings (-9.0%) in 2022 compared to 2016. This does not include holiday homes, of which there were 66,135, compared with 62,148 in 2016.