Rural developers are having to run fast just to stand still

Census 2016 showed that 1.35 million people lived in the four council areas that make up Co Dublin. This is equivalent to 28% of the total population.

The most up to date data for 2014 show that Dublin accounted for 45% of Irish gross value added (GVA) that year, which is a proxy for economic activity.

Not surprisingly, it is the case that the capital city of the country dominates population and economic activity. In most countries, it tends to be the case that economic activity and population will tend to gravitate towards the region around the capital, but this is particularly true the smaller the country is and the easier it is to migrate to the capital.