Population highest since Parnell
The survey last April shows the population of the State is just over 3.9 million the highest level since 1871.
Population growth has been highest in the Leinster area, with Meath and Kildare registering the biggest increases, with rises of over 20%.
Cities generally have been growing at a slower rate than the rest of the country, with Dublin growing by 6.1%, while Cork City was the only major area that registered a population decline, with a decrease of 3,849 (-3%).
Instead, the population is growing at a faster rate in areas outside cities and in towns. Rural counties also recorded population rises, with Leitrim, where the population has been falling steadily since 1926, recording its first increase.
However, Central Statistics Office officials said the figures did not mean rural decline had been halted.
Instead, they said that much of the rise in rural counties had been distorted by population increases in regional towns and villages. The census also recorded the biggest-ever increase in migration in the history of the State, with a net inflow of 150,000 people.
Since the foundation of the State, there have been only three periods when there has been a net increase in migration. Galway city broke the trend of slow city growth with an increase of 14.9%, compared to Waterford (4.8%) and Limerick (3.9%).
Central Statistics Office officials said it was hard to predict whether the population would continue on an upward curve as growth tended to be cyclical.
The CSO's Francis McCann said much of the increase was due to inward migration and that females born during the increased birth rates in the late 1970s and early 1980s were now child-bearing age. Figures show there are more females than males.
Traditionally, Leinster has been the only area where there have been more females than males, although Munster has followed this pattern for the first time. Population growth of 9.4% in the Leinster area outstrips any other province, compared to Munster (6.5%), Connacht (7.1%) and Ulster (5.1%). Lucan was the fastest growing small area in Dublin, Lehanagh, near Togher, was the fastest growing area in Cork (40.9%); Ballycummin in Limerick (39%), and Barna in Galway (54%).
