Nearly half of the country’s urban population lives in Dublin, according to latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The data, derived from Census 2016, show 44% of the State’s urban dwellers are in the capital, while 11% live in Cork.
In total, 62.7% of the population lives in urban areas.
Sligo was the town with the biggest change in the rate of urbanisation between 2011 and 2016, rising from 37% to 40%.
The statistics also show 41 towns have a population of 10,000 or more, with Drogheda remaining the largest town in the country with a population of 40,956 (+6.2% since 2011).
Meanwhile, population density has increased from 67 people per sq km in 2011 to 70 people per sq km now.
Over a quarter of a million Irish residents moved internally within the country in the year to April 2016, with a clear trend showing movement out of Dublin to neighbouring counties.
Movers were predominantly aged between 20 and 34 (45.7%), while over 40s made up just a fifth of movers.
