How many people now live in Ireland and how much has the population grown since 1956?

File Photo: Census 2016. According to the summary results of the 2016 Census published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), yesterday, there were 4,761,865 people liviing in the State, in April of last year. Some of the most interesting figures related to the social makeup of the population. People with no religion number 468,000, an increase of 73%, making them the second largest grouping after the Catholic Church. People who declared themselves Roman Catholic make up 78/% of the population, a reduction of 132, 220 from fives years ago, when they represented 84% of the population. The number of Polish people is 122,515, making them the largest ethnic group. Non Irish Nationals account for 11.6% of the population. End. 07/08/2015. Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show. Large crowds of spectators in the Nations cup at the Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show in the RDS. Photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

IRELAND'S population has undergone many changes over the last six decades.

The Irish population declined throughout the 1950s and early 1960s before beginning to increase in the late 1960s.

This growth continued throughout the 1970s with almost 400,000 added to the population between 1971 and 1979.

The 1980s saw a return to slower growth as a result of migration with the population actually falling during the 1986-1991.

Since then it has grown in each decade - the current population is almost 70 per cent bigger than it was in 1961.

Scroll down to see how Ireland's population has changed over the last 60 years

In total the population of Ireland has increased by almost 1.9million over the past 60 years.

The number of people living in the Republic of Ireland has risen from 2,898,264 in 1956 and now stands at 4,761,865, according to figures released by the Irish Central Statistics Office.

Population change is driven by births, deaths and net migration (immigration less emigration).