Historical population of Ireland

The population of Ireland in 2008 was approximately 6.1 million comprising 4.35 million in the Republic of Ireland with another 1.75 million in Northern Ireland. Although this is a significant growth over recent years, it is lower than historical figures.

In 1841, the population of the 26 counties which would later form the Republic of Ireland was over 6.5 million people. The Irish potato famine and the emigration it caused had a dramatic effect, so that by 1871 the 26-county population had almost halved to four million, and by 1926 had reduced further to three million. The population held firm around three million until the early 1970s when the population began to rise again. Future predictions are for the population to continue to rise at 1.4% per year until 2021 when the population is predicted to be just over five million. The Republic of Ireland is one of the few remaining developed economies to have population growth of this scale.

Below are some statistics to illustrate the rise, fall and rise again of the Irish population since 1841. The statistics also illustrate a massive population shift from the West to the East of the country and increasing urbanisation. Counties such as Mayo, Roscommon, Donegal and Leitrim have become depopulated while counties surrounding Dublin including Wicklow, Kildare, Louth and Meath have seen rapid population growth in recent years.

Historical country population

Data for country population refers to the 26 counties that make up the present country of the Republic of Ireland

Population (in millions) from 1841 - 2006

Year	Population	%Change
2006	4.24m	+8.1
2002	3.92m	+8.2
1996	3.63m	+2.9
1991	3.53m	-(0.6)
1986	3.54m	+2.8
1981	3.44m	+2.3
1979	3.37m	+13.2
1971	2.98m	+3.2
1966	2.88m	+2.3
1961	2.82m	-(2.7)
1956	2.90m	-(2.2)
1951	2.96m	+0.3
1946	2.96m	-(0.5)
1936	2.97m	-(0.2)
1926	2.97m	-(5.4)
1911	3.14m	-(2.6)
1901	3.22m	-(7.1)
1891	3.47m	-(10.3)
1881	3.87m	-(4.5)
1871	4.05m	-(5.7)
1861	4.40m	-(13.9)
1851	5.11m	-(21.7)
1841	6.53m

The population of the 6 counties of Northern Ireland as of 2004 is 1,710,300 which would mean a total population on the island of Ireland as of 2006 of approximately 5,952,761.

County populations 2006

	County	Population	%Change		County	Population
1	Dublin	1,186,159	+5.7		Antrim	616,384
2	Cork	480,909	+7.6		Down	410,487
3	Galway	231,035	+10.5		Londonderry	211,669
4	Kildare	186,075	+14.1		Tyrone	158,460
5	Limerick	183,863	+5.1		Armagh	126,803
6	Meath	162,621	+21.6		Fermanagh	54,033
7	Tipperary	149,131	+6.4
8	Donegal	146,956	+7.3
9	Kerry	139,616	+6.1
10	Wexford	131,615	+13.8
11	Wicklow	126,330	+10.5
12	Mayo	123,648	+6
13	Louth	110,894	+7.8
14	Clare	110,800	+8.8
15	Waterford	107,942	+6.9
16	Kilkenny	87,394	+8.8
17	Westmeath	79,403	+9.7
18	Offaly	70,604	+10.9
19	Laois	67,012	+13.6
20	Cavan	63,961	+12.3
21	Sligo	60,863	+5.2
22	Roscommon	58,700	+9.3
23	Monaghan	55,816	+5.7
24	Carlow	50,471	+8.7
25	Longford	34,361	+9.7
26	Leitrim	28,837	+11.5

See also List of Irish counties by population

Historical populations per province

(Measured in 1000's)

Data for Ulster refers to the 3 counties of Ulster that constitute part of the Republic of Ireland: Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan

Leinster

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	2,292	2,103	1,920	1,858	1,851	1,789	1,741	1,495	1,413	1,330	1,336	1,336	1,278	1,217	1,147	1,160	1,152	1,186	1,276	1,336	1,454	1,668	1,969
Rank	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2
%Change	9	9.53	3.34	0.38	3.47	2.76	16.45	5.8	6.24	-(0.45)	0	4.54	5.01	6.10	-(1.12)	0.69	-(2.87)	-(7.05)	-(4.49)	-(8.12)	-(12.83)	-(15.29)

Munster

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	1,173	1,098	1,032	1,004	1,018	996	978	879	856	847	874	897	914	940	968	1,033	1,073	1,169	1,328	1,390	1,510	1,856	2,394
Rank	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
%Change	6.83	6.4	2.79	-(1.38)	2.21	1.84	11.26	2.69	1.06	-(3.09)	-(2.56)	-(1.86)	-(2.77)	-(2.89)	-(6.29)	-(3.73)	-(8.21)	-(11.97)	-(4.46)	-(7.95)	-(18.64)	-(22.47)

Connacht

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	504	464	431	421	431	424	418	390	401	418	446	471	493	525	552	611	646	724	820	846	911	1,008	1,417
Rank	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
%Change	8.62	7.66	2.38	-(2.32)	1.65	1.44	7.18	-(2.74)	-(4.07)	-(6.28)	-(5.31)	-(4.46)	-(6.10)	-(4.89)	-(9.66)	-(5.42)	-(10.77)	-(11.71)	-(3.07)	-(7.14)	-(9.62)	-(28.86)

Ulster (part of)

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	267	247	233	232	236	230	226	207	209	218	236	253	263	280	300	331	347	385	438	474	517	571	739
Rank	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
%Change	8.1	6.01	0.43	-(1.69)	2.61	1.77	9.18	-(0.96)	-(4.13)	-(7.63)	-(6.72)	-(3.80)	-(6.07)	-(6.67)	-(9.37)	-(4.61)	-(9.87)	-(12.10)	-(7.59)	-(8.32)	-(9.46)	-(22.73)

Historical populations per county

(Measured in 1000's)

Dublin

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	1,186	1,122	1,058	1,025	1,021	1,003	983	852	795	718	705	693	636	586	505	477	448	419	418	405	410	405	372
Rank	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	4
%Change	5.7	6.05	3.22	0.39															3.21	-1.22	1.23	8.87

Cork

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	481	447	420	410	412	402	396	352	339	330	336	341	343	355	365	391	404	438	495	517	544	649	854
Rank	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
%Change	7.61	6.43	2.44	-0.49															-4.26	-4.96	-16.18	-24

Galway

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	231	209	188	180	178	172	167	149	148	149	155	160	165	168	169	182	192	214	242	248	271	321	440
Rank	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	2
%Change	10.53	11.17	4.44	1.12															-2.42	-8.49	-15.58	-27.05

Kildare

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	186	163	134	122	116	104	97	71	66	64	65	66	64	57	58	66	63	70	75	83	90	95	114
Rank	4	5	5	7	8	9	9	13	14	14	14	14	17	20	19	17	20	20	20	20	21	24	25
%Change	14.11	21.64	9.84	5.17															-9.64	-7.78	-5.26	-16.67

Limerick

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	184	175	165	161	164	161	157	140	137	133	137	141	142	141	140	143	146	158	180	191	217	262	330
Rank	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	7	6	6
%Change	5.14	6.06	2.48	-1.83															-5.76	-11.98	-17.18	-20.61

Meath

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	163	134	109	105	103	95	90	71	67	65	66	66	66	61	62	65	67	76	87	95	110	140	183
Rank	6	8	10	10	10	11	11	13	13	13	13	14	14	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	17	16	16
%Change	21.6	22.94	3.81	1.94															-8.42	-13.64	-21.43	-23.5

Tipperary

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	149	140	133	131	136	134	133	123	121	123	128	133	135	137	140	151	159	172	199	216	248	331	435
Rank	7	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	7	8	7	7	7	7	7	6	5	3	3
%Change	6.43	5.26	1.53	-3.68															-7.87	-12.9	-25.08	-23.91

Donegal

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	147	137	129	128	130	125	122	108	109	114	122	132	136	142	153	169	174	187	206	218	237	255	296
Rank	8	7	7	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	7	7	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	7	7
%Change	7.3	6.2	0.78	-1.54															-5.5	-8.02	-7.06	-13.85

Kerry

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	140	132	126	121	124	122	120	112	112	116	122	126	133	139	149	159	165	179	201	196	201	238	293
Rank	9	9	8	8	7	7	7	6	7	7	7	8	8	7	6	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	8
%Change	6.06	4.76	4.13	-2.42															2.55	-2.49	-15.55	-18.77

Wexford

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	132	116	104	102	103	99	96	86	83	83	87	90	92	94	96	102	104	112	123	132	143	180	202
Rank	10	11	11	11	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	11	12	12	12	10	12
%Change	13.79	11.54	1.96	-0.97															-6.82	-7.69	-20.56	-10.89

Wicklow

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	126	114	102	97	95	87	84	66	60	58	60	63	60	59	58	61	61	62	70	78	86	98	126
Rank	11	12	12	12	12	15	15	15	15	17	18	18	19	19	19	21	22	24	24	22	24	23	23
%Change	10.53	11.76	5.15	2.11															-10.26	-9.3	-12.24	-22.22

Mayo

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	124	117	111	110	115	114	114	109	115	123	133	141	148	161	172	192	199	219	245	246	254	274	388
Rank	12	10	9	9	9	8	8	7	6	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	5	4
%Change	5.98	5.41	0.91	-4.35															-0.41	-3.15	-7.3	-29.38

Clare

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	111	103	94	90	91	88	85	75	74	74	77	81	85	90	95	104	112	124	141	147	166	212	286
Rank	13	13	13	15	14	14	14	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
%Change	7.77	9.57	4.44	-1.1															-4.08	-11.45	-21.7	-25.87

Louth

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	111	102	92	91	92	89	86	75	70	67	69	69	66	64	63	64	66	71	78	84	91	108	128
Rank	13	14	15	13	13	12	13	11	12	12	12	12	14	16	17	19	19	19	19	19	19	22	22
%Change	8.82	10.87	1.1	-1.09															-7.14	-7.69	-15.74	-15.63

Waterford

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	108	101	94	91	91	89	87	77	73	71	74	75	76	78	79	84	87	98	112	123	134	164	196
Rank	15	15	13	13	14	12	12	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	15
%Change	6.93	7.45	3.3	0															-8.94	-8.21	-18.29	-16.33

Kilkenny

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	87	80	75	73	73	70	69	61	60	61	64	65	66	68	70	74	79	87	99	109	124	158	202
Rank	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	15	15	17	14	14	15	15	15	15	16	16	15	14	12
%Change	8.75	6.67	2.74	0															-9.17	-12.1	-21.52	-21.78

Westmeath

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	79	72	63	62	63	62	60	54	53	53	54	54	55	55	57	60	62	65	72	78	91	111	141
Rank	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	19	20	20	21	21	21	21	22	21	22	23	22	19	20	21
%Change	9.72	14.29	1.61	-1.59															-7.69	-14.29	-18.02	-21.28

Offaly

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	71	64	59	58	60	58	57	52	52	52	52	53	54	51	53	57	60	66	73	76	90	112	147
Rank	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	20	20	21	21	22	22	22	23	23	23	21	21	24	21	18	20
%Change	10.94	8.47	1.72	-3.33															-3.95	-15.56	-19.64	-23.81

Cavan

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	64	57	53	53	54	54	54	53	54	57	62	66	70	77	82	91	98	112	129	141	154	174	243
Rank	20	21	20	20	21	21	20	19	18	18	17	14	13	13	12	12	12	11	11	10	11	11	11
%Change	12.28	7.55	0	-1.85															-8.51	-8.44	-11.49	-28.4

Sligo

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	61	58	55	54	56	55	55	50	51	54	57	61	62	67	71	79	84	98	111	115	124	128	180
Rank	21	20	19	19	19	19	19	21	21	19	19	19	18	15	14	14	14	13	14	14	15	17	17
%Change	5.17	5.45	1.85	-3.57															-3.48	-7.26	-3.13	-28.89

Laois

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	67	59	52	52	53	51	49	45	44	45	47	48	49	50	51	54	57	64	73	79	90	111	153
Rank	19	19	21	21	22	22	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	24	24	24	24	23	21	21	21	20	19
%Change	13.56	13.46	0	-1.89															-7.59	-12.22	-18.92	-27.45

Roscommon

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	59	54	52	52	55	55	54	54	56	59	64	68	73	78	84	94	102	114	132	141	157	173	254
Rank	22	22	21	21	20	19	20	17	17	16	15	13	12	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	12	10
%Change	9.26	3.85	0	-5.45															-6.38	-10.19	-9.25	-31.89

Monaghan

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	56	53	51	51	52	51	50	46	46	47	52	55	57	61	65	71	75	86	103	115	126	142	200
Rank	23	23	23	23	23	22	22	22	22	22	21	20	20	17	16	16	16	16	15	14	14	15	14
%Change	5.66	3.92	0	-1.92															-10.43	-8.73	-11.27	-29

Carlow

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1989	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	50	46	42	41	41	40	39	34	34	33	34	34	34	34	34	36	38	41	47	52	57	68	86
Rank	24	24	24	24	24	24	24	24	24	24	25	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26
%Change	8.7	9.52	2.44	0															-9.62	-8.77	-16.18	-20.93

Longford

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	34	31	30	30	31	31	31	28	29	31	33	35	36	38	40	44	47	53	61	65	72	82	115
Rank	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	26	26	26	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	24
%Change	9.68	3.33	0	-3.23															-6.15	-9.72	-12.2	-28.7

Leitrim

Year	2006	2002	1996	1991	1986	1981	1979	1971	1966	1961	1956	1951	1946	1936	1926	1911	1901	1891	1881	1871	1861	1851	1841
Population	29	26	25	25	27	28	28	28	31	33	37	41	45	51	56	64	69	79	90	96	105	112	155
Rank	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	25	25	24	24	24	24	22	22	19	17	17	17	17	18	18	18
%Change	11.54	4	0	-7.41															-6.25	-8.57	-6.25	-27.74

See also

• Census of Ireland, 1911

External links

• Historical data at Irish census site