How has Ireland's population changed since 1926?

Ireland's population grew from 2.97 million in 1926 to 5.15 million in 2022 — an increase of 73% over 96 years. However, this growth was not uniform across counties. Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow grew substantially — Kildare by 77%, Meath by 71%. In contrast, Leitrim lost 59% of its 1926 population, Mayo lost 25%, and Roscommon lost 19%. The pattern reflects the long-term shift from an agricultural west to an urbanised east, driven by emigration, economic change, and the Dublin commuter effect.

Why did counties like Leitrim and Mayo lose so much population?

The counties that lost the most population between 1926 and 2022 were also the most dependent on agriculture in 1926. Leitrim had 47% of its workforce in agricultural occupations, Mayo 46%, Roscommon 46%. These were subsistence farming communities on poor land, with limited alternative employment and well-established emigration routes to Britain and the United States. As agriculture mechanised and required fewer workers, and as economic opportunities concentrated in Dublin and other cities, the rural west continued to lose its youngest people to emigration and internal migration. This cycle has been ongoing for a century.

What was the housing situation in Ireland in 1926?

The 1926 census recorded 46,902 one-room dwellings across Ireland. Dublin alone contained 27,351 of these — more than all other counties combined. These were the notorious tenement buildings of the inner city, where families lived in acute overcrowding. This housing crisis was the context for the social housing programmes of the 1930s through 1950s and the large suburban expansion of Dublin. In rural areas, one-room dwellings reflected isolated rural cottages. The one-room dwelling rate was highest as a proportion of population in urban Dublin.

Ireland · Census 1926 & 2022 · 96 Years of Change

How Ireland changed — a century of census data

Two censuses, ninety-six years apart. In 1926 Ireland had a population of 2.97 million, half its workers farmed the land, and the west was still full. By 2022 the population had grown to 5.15 million — but growth skipped the counties that started with the least.

The map that moved

In 1926, Ireland's population spread across the island — notably dense in the west and midlands. By 2022 it had shifted decisively east: Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow — and into Cork and Galway. The pattern is not random. It tracks economic opportunity, transport links, and the long shadow of agricultural dependency.

Population 1926

2.97M

First Free State census

Population 2022

5.15M

Highest in state history

Agriculture 1926 → 2022

51% → 4%

Share of workforce

Largest decline

Leitrim −59%

1926 to 2022

The agricultural trap — why Connacht emptied

Agriculture employed 51% of the Irish workforce in 1926. By 2022 that figure had fallen to under 4% — the most dramatic collapse of any sector in the state's history. The national figure hides a county-level story that is even starker.

In 1926, nearly half the workforce in counties like Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Cavan worked in agriculture. These were subsistence farming communities on poor land. They had few alternative industries and well-worn emigration routes to Britain and America. Counties with high agricultural dependency in 1926 lost the most people by 2022 — one of the clearest patterns in the data.

Leitrim: 47% agricultural workforce in 1926. Population decline of 59% by 2022.

Kildare, by contrast, had just 27% of its workforce in agriculture in 1926 — and grew by 77% over the century. Dublin, with 1–7% agricultural dependency depending on area, grew by 65%. The counties that had already moved away from farming by 1926 were the ones that grew.

Leitrim (47% ag → −59% pop): The starkest case. Poor land, no urban centre, no rail links in key areas. Emigration ran without break from the Famine through to the 1980s and beyond.
Mayo (46% ag → −25% pop): Lost 34,720 people from its 1926 base of 137,970. Castlebar and Westport grew while rural areas hollowed out.
Roscommon (46% ag → −19% pop): Down 13,297 from its 1926 base. The county had a railway — then lost it, deepening isolation.
Kildare (27% ag → +77% pop): The commuter belt effect. Naas, Maynooth, Celbridge, Newbridge — all grew as Dublin expanded along the M7 and rail corridors.
Meath (35% ag → +71% pop): Navan, Ashbourne, Dunboyne — all absorbed Dublin overspill. From the 1990s onward, agricultural land converted to housing at scale.

Map agriculture % by county 1926 → Map population change 1926–2022 →

Dublin's hidden housing crisis — 1926

The 1926 census recorded 27,351 one-room dwellings in Dublin — more than every other county in Ireland combined. These were the tenements of the inner city: families of six or eight living in a single room in houses that had once been Georgian townhouses. The tuberculosis epidemic of the 1930s, the Iveagh Trust, and the Corporation housing schemes of the 1940s and 50s all responded to what the 1926 census recorded.

The housing crisis of 2026 has different causes — shortage rather than overcrowding, the periphery rather than the centre. But the 1926 map of Dublin's one-room dwellings is a reminder that the city has faced acute housing stress before. It took a generation of public investment to resolve it.

Map one-room dwellings by county 1926 →

The Gaeltacht in 1926

In 1926, Irish speaker rates clustered in the west — Galway (54%), Mayo (46%), Kerry (38%), Clare and Donegal (both 35%). These were living language communities, not heritage designations. The counties with the highest Irish speaker rates in 1926 were also among the most agricultural and the most affected by emigration in the decades that followed.

Dublin City recorded just 7.5% Irish speakers in 1926 — the capital of a state that had made Irish a constitutional language in 1922. The census shows a language whose survival depended on the same rural communities that emigration was about to dismantle.

The 1926 Irish speaker figures measure native and habitual speakers — the living Gaeltacht. Later censuses asked the question differently. IrelandInsights maps the 1926 data as a historical record; compare with 2022 figures carefully, given the different measurement methods.

Map Irish speakers by county 1926 →

Religion in 1926

The 1926 census recorded Ireland as 92.6% Roman Catholic — but the Protestant geography was more varied than the national figure suggests. Wicklow had the highest Church of Ireland proportion at 5.8% (9,045 people), followed by Cavan (5%), Carlow (3.9%) and Donegal (3.9%). These patterns reflect plantation histories, the Pale, and the concentration of the Anglo-Irish landowning class in the eastern counties.

By 2022, the Church of Ireland nationally made up about 2.7% of the population — a decline driven by emigration of Protestant families and a wider shift in religious self-identification.

Who was living in Ireland in 1926?

96.5% of Ireland's 1926 population was born in Ireland. The largest foreign-born group came from Great Britain — 49,354 people, likely including returned emigrants and the families of those who had moved between the islands before independence. A further 35,132 were born in Northern Ireland, reflecting how new the border was. 9,405 were born in the United States — a visible trace of the return flow from emigrant communities in Boston, New York and Chicago.

Explore the full century on the map

IrelandInsights maps all four 1926 county metrics alongside Census 2022 data. Every county shows its 1926 figure next to its 2022 comparison — agriculture, Irish speakers, population change, and housing on a single live map.

Agriculture 1926 Irish speakers 1926 Population change Housing 1926 Census 2022

1926 census overview → · Population growth → · Rural Ireland today →

Primary sources · CSO Census 1926 scanned original volumes:
Vol. 1 — Population · Vol. 2 — Occupations · Vol. 3 — Religion & Birthplaces · Vol. 8 — Irish Language · All 1926 volumes
National Archives — search household returns · CSO Then and Now 1926–2022 · CSO Census 2022

Explore the live map

The charts above are snapshots; the live map below is the full dataset for every county and electoral division. Hover any area for the underlying figures, switch geography levels, and compare with related metrics.