Updated at 2.00pm

THE CSO HAS released preliminary results of the 2011 census, which was carried out in April.

The figures – which CSO statistician Shaun McLaughlin stressed were only “early results” based on summary counts – show Ireland’s population continuing to increase. There were an estimated 4,581,269 people living in the country on census night, a growth of 8.1 per cent since the last census in 2006.

Here are some of the other main findings:

The strongest population growth was in Laois, which saw its numbers shoot up by 20 per cent – more than twice the national average. The only two administrative areas to register a population drop were Cork city and Limerick city.
Each year between 2006 and 2011, an average of 23,730 people per year migrated to Ireland.
Over the five years, 118,650 more people immigrated to Ireland than emigrated. However, the CSO said this trend had reversed in the later part of the five-year period, with more people leaving the country than arriving.
Limerick city had the highest emigration rate at 17.2 people per thousand.
The fastest-growing electoral division was Balbriggan Rural in Fingal, Co Dublin, up from 5,531 to 15,146.
Meanwhile, the constituency of North Dublin saw the biggest population increase, at 16.1 per cent.
There are now slightly more females than males in Ireland, with 981 men to every 1,000 women – a reversal of the 2006 situation. Relatively speaking Dublin has the fewest males, with only 949 men to every 1,000 women.
The number of vacant dwellings has increased by 10.5 per cent since 2006. Vacancy rates dropped from 15 per cent to 14.7 per cent due to a 13.3 per cent increase in the overall number of dwellings.

Further data is available broken down by area on the CSO’s census 2011 website.

Additional reporting by Susan Ryan

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