Ireland's population has jumped by 3.8% to 4.8 million since 2011, according to the latest census results.

The results of the 2016 Census were published today, with the forms being completed by two million households on April 24 last year.

It shows that the population in the Republic of Ireland stood at 4,761,865 in April 2016, an increase of 173,613 since the previous count in April 2011.

Crowds descend on St Stephen's Green to enjoy the sunny spell

However, the CSO says this is the slowest increase in Ireland’s population for 20 years. The only counties that saw a decline in population were Mayo, down by 0.1%, and Donegal, down 1.2%.

The total number of non-Irish nationals dropped slightly to 535,475, or 11.6% of the population, marking the first decline in numbers since the question was introduced in 2002.

For the first time since 1946, the number of Irish speakers has fallen, 3,382 fewer speak Irish on a daily basis outside of the education system.


Strikingly, Irish people are increasingly turning away from religion, with the numbers describing themselves as non-religious doubling, while those identifying as Catholic have fallen sharply.

Below we’ve gathered some of the key findings of the census.


There are now 3,729,100 Catholics in Ireland, down 132,200 from 3,861,300 in 2011.

That represents a steep drop from 84.2% of the population, to 78.3%.

Meanwhile, there has been a corresponding rise in the number identifying with no religion, which grew by 73.6%, almost doubling from 269,800 to 468,400.

Those with no religion now make up almost 10% of the entire population.

The number of Muslims in Ireland has increased by 14,200, or 28.9%.


Crowds gather in Temple Bar in Dublin

The number of rented accommodations went up 22,323 from 2011 while the increase in overall permanent housing units in the five year period was just 48,257.

The average weekly rent across the country has soared by 14.8% since 2011, to €156, roughly €624 each month.

People living in private purpose built flats and apartments are paying the highest rent, at an average of €229 each week.

In contrast, those renting a bedsit from private landlords are paying the lowest average at €125 a week.

There are 50,535 households paying more than €300 in rent every week.

Ageing Population

The average age of the population is continuing to increase and stood at 37.4 in April 2016.

That’s increased by 1.3 years from 2011, and is up by 3.3 years since 1996 when it stood at just 34.1 years.

The youngest population is found in Fingal, North Dublin and in Kildare, while the oldest is in Kerry and Leitrim.

People are living longer too, with the numbers aged over 65 increasing by 19.1% since 2011.

For the population aged over 85, the number of males is up by 24.8% to 23,062, while the female population in the bracket has jumped by 11.4% to 44,493.

Households and Families

According to the census, 37.6% of the population is married and there are 97.8 males for every 100 females in the country.

The number of children per household was 1.38 which was unchanged from 2011.

This is the first time the Census has recorded same sex civil partnerships and marital status and logged a total of 6,034 same sex couples in Ireland.

3,442 were male couples and 2,592 were female.

The number of divorced people increased by 16,125 to 103,895.


Some 82,346 moved to Ireland in the year leading up to the 2016 census, of which 28,100 were Irish.

It marks an increase in inward migration on 2011, when just 53,267 people moved to Ireland.

In April 2016, people born outside of Ireland accounted for 17.3% of the population, now standing at 810,406.

However the increase of 43,636 is a steep decline of the numbers recorded between 2006 and 2011, when it rose by 154,141.

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