Cities losing population share

The combined population of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford cities, including their suburbs, increased by 4.2 per cent between 2002 and 2006 compared with an increase of 8.2 per cent at national level. Galway (+9.9%) was the only city whose population increase exceeded the national increase in this four-year period.

According to Census 2006 Volume 1 - Population classified by Area, the population of the five cities represented 34.2 per cent of the population of the State in 2006 - down from 35.5 per cent four years earlier. Of the overall population growth of 322,645 between April 2002 and April 2006, less than one fifth occurred in city areas.

Major increase occurring in towns

The number of large towns (those with a population of 10,000 or more) increased from 28 to 34 since the 2002 census, with 22 of them located in Leinster. The combined population of these 34 large towns increased from 552,000 in 2002 to 616,000 in 2006 (+11.6%). Swords (+6,823) showed the highest absolute growth while Balbriggan (+51.1%) had the
highest percentage growth.

Smaller towns, with a population of 1,500 to 9,999 had an overall population increase of one fifth between 2002 and 2006. These towns are dispersed throughout the State with 59 of them in Leinster, 40 in Munster, 16 in Connaught and 16 in Ulster (part).

Villages consisting of at least 50 occupied households and with a population of less than 1,500 increased in population by 18.6 per cent in the inter-censal period. In the counties of Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow the population of these small villages increased by over one third while elsewhere in the State the increase in the village population was one sixth.

The population living in sparsely populated rural areas numbered 1.37 million in 2006 compared with 1.3 million in 2002 (+5.3%).

Wide variation in make-up of Dáil constituencies

In 2006, the population per TD in Dail constituencies ranged from 22,833 in Dun Laoghaire to 30,967 in Dublin West. At a national level, the average population per TD increased from 23,598 in 2002 to 25,541 in 2006.

Population density high in Dublin, low in Leitrim

The overall population density (i.e. the number of persons per square kilometre) for the State was 60. Leitrim (18) had the lowest population density followed by Mayo (22).

Dublin city had the highest population density with 4,304 persons per square kilometre, followed by Cork city (3,015) and Limerick city (2,582).

Editor's note

The publication Census 2006 - Principal Demographic Results, released on 29 March 2007, contains a summary at State level of data from Volumes 1-4, 8, 11 and 12 of the detailed census reports which will be published over the coming months (see CSO website for release dates). The publication released today, Volume 1, gives detailed figures for all the territorial divisions in the country.

For copies of the publication contact:

Central Statistics Office, Information Section, Skehard Road, Cork 021 453 5011
or
Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.
Price: €15.00
Copies can also be downloaded from the CSO website (see address below).

For further information contact:

Central Statistics Office, Swords Business Campus, Balheary Road, Swords, Co. Dublin.
Census Enquiries: (01) 895 1460/61/63/66
Fax: (01) 895 1399
E-mail: census@cso.ie
Internet: www.cso.ie

                                                                                                               26 April 2007
                                                            

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