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This publication contains preliminary data from Census 2022 as published in June 2022, which has now been superseded. To view the final data with complete and up-to-date Census 2022 information, please refer to the Census 2022 Main Results publications.
The population in every county increased between Census 2016 and Census 2022.
The counties with the highest population growth were Longford (+14%), Meath (+13%), Fingal and Kildare (+11% in each).
The counties that recorded the lowest population growth each increased by 5% between 2016 and 2022. These were Donegal, Kilkenny, Kerry and Tipperary.
The official boundaries of Cork City and Cork County have changed since Census 2016. Comparisons in this publication reference the county of Cork. Further details on the population of Cork City and County can be found in the supporting tables. Population figures from Census 2022 for the previous Cork boundaries are contained in the Background notes.
In Munster, Waterford was the fastest growing county, expanding by 9%, followed by Clare and Cork, which grew by 7%.
Leitrim was the Connacht county which grew most between 2016 and 2022, recording a 10% rate of growth. Roscommon (8%) also grew more quickly than the overall national rate of growth.
Cavan (7%), Monaghan (6%) and Donegal (5%) all recorded population growth in Ulster.
Alongside Longford, Meath, Fingal and Kildare, Wexford (9%) and Carlow (9%) were among the fastest growing counties in Leinster.
Based on the preliminary population count of 5,123,536 persons and the current total of 160 TDs, the average number of persons per TD for the country was 32,022.
The preliminary census results show that 38 of the 39 Dáil constituencies had more than 30,000 persons per TD, as illustrated in Table 2.3.
Among the constituencies, those with the highest number of persons per TD were Dublin Fingal with 34,138 persons per TD, Dublin Rathdown with 33,718 persons and Kildare North with 33,589 persons.
With 29,826 persons per TD, Limerick County had the lowest number of persons per TD. It was the only constituency that fell below 30,000 persons per TD.
The fastest-growing Dáil constituency was Meath East which increased by 11,493 persons or 13% over the six years between 2016 and 2022. The slowest growing constituencies were Dublin Bay South (5%), Limerick County (4%) and Donegal (4%). None of the 39 constituencies showed a fall in population.
Table FP004 provides the 2016 and 2022 populations along with the number of TDs in each of the 39 Dáil constituencies as defined in the Electoral (Amendment) (No.7) Act 2017. The table shows the percentage change in the population of each of the constituencies as well as the average number of persons per TD.
The Dáil constituencies referenced here are those that were established in 2017. For the purposes of comparison, Census 2016 population data has been used for these constituencies. Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017 (irishstatutebook.ie)
Electoral Divisions (EDs) are the most detailed administrative areas published for these preliminary census results. Of the 3,409 EDs, 60 showed population increases of over 30%, while a further 128 EDs showed increases between 20% and 30%.
At the other end of the scale, the population fell in 17% of EDs (576 areas) with 34 of these EDs recording decreases of over 10%.
Thirty four EDs had no change to their population (1% of EDs).
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