Figures show State's population nearing 4 million

The population of the State now stands at just under four million, an increase of eight per cent in the past six years and the highest since the late 1870s.

Figures published by the Central Statistics Office this morning show that on census night, April 28th last, there were 3,917,336 people in the State. This is an increase of 291,249 since the last census in April, 1996.

Births, at 324,103 exceeded deaths (185,921) by 138,182. There was also a net immigration, comprising both returning emigrant Irish and non-nationals, of over 153,000 people since 1996.

The figures are preliminary findings based on results returned by the 4,000 census enumerators. A more complete report, showing such details as age profiles, employment trends, educational standards and home internet access, will be available towards the middle of 2003.

The population increase was most marked in Leinster (+9.4 per cent). The province now has a population of 2,105,449, compared to 1,101,266 in Munster, 464,050 in Connacht and 246,571 in the part of Ulster in the Republic.

However, Dublin city showed a slower increase than the average, at 6.1 per cent, while the population of Cork city actually fell by three per cent.

The largest population increase in the State was in the Lucan-Esker area of Dublin, where the figure has trebled in the past six years to 21,785.

Other main growth centres include Kildare and Meath, which both saw increases of over one fifth since 1996.

Leitrim, which has shown a population decline in every census since the foundation of the State, showed an increase for the first time, albeit of only three per cent.

West Dublin as a whole was by far the fastest growing area of the city, while large areas of the older north and south of the capital showed actual declines in population. This was attributed to an aging population and younger people being forced to buy homes further from the city centre.

The highest population in the 26 counties since records began was 6.5 million in 1841, while the lowest for the same region was 2.8 million in the late 1960s.