This report tracks Ireland's urban population, urbanization rate and long-term shift toward urban settlement.
Ireland’s urbanization rate stood at 64.3% in 2024, up by 1.1 percentage points over five years. The number of people living in urban areas was 3,542,220 in 2025, while annual urban population growth reached 2.0% in 2025.
Based on comparable data for 2024, Ireland recorded the 107th-highest urban population share among 217 economies. Its five-year urban population growth ranked 76th of 217 economies with sufficient data.
Ireland Urban Population and Growth by Year
Data source: World Bank, World Development Indicators — Urban population (SP.URB.TOTL); Urban population, % of total population (SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS); Urban population growth, annual % (SP.URB.GROW); Population, total (population).
License: CC BY-4.0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
About the Indicators
Urban population. The number of people living in areas classified as urban under each country’s own national statistical definition, which varies from country to country.
Urban population, % of total population. The share of a country’s population living in urban areas, based on national definitions of what counts as urban.
Urban population growth, annual %. The annual growth rate of the urban population, reflecting both natural increase and migration from rural to urban areas.