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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