A chronology of Ireland's population developments since 1847.
1847 Known as 'Black 47', this is the worst year yet of the Great Famine. Huge numbers of people die of famine and fever; others flee, emigrating to Britain and America. The steady annual population rise since 1801 declines for the next 140 years. In the census of 1851, the population stands at 5,111,557, compared to 6,528,799 a decade earlier.
1862 Harland & Wolf shipyard opens in Belfast. Population has fallen further, to 4,402,111.
1881 Amid widespread agitation by tenants for greatrt rights, the census records a fall below the four million mark, to 3,870,020.
1905 Sinn Féin movement established by Arthur Griffith. The first census of the new century notes a population slipping further, to 3,221,823.
1916 Easter Rising, 24-29 April, breaks out chiefly in Dublin. Over the tumultuous years between 1911 and 1926, the population falls by some 170,000.
1937 Referendum on a new constitution, promoted by Eamon de Valera, held on June 14th and accepted by majority of a small turn-out with 13 per cent between the two sides. Free State, renamed Éire, leaves the Commonwealth. The Spanish Civil war continues. For two decades, the population has held steady. The last pre-war census - in 1936 - counted 2,968,420 people.
1945 The Second World War, and with it Ireland's 'Emergency', comes to an end.
1955 Republic admitted to the United Nations Organisation.
At a time of high emigration, the 1956 census noted a further population fall, this time to 2,898,264.
1973 Republic joins the European Economic Community. Northern Ireland Assembly created, power-sharing executive agreed and tripartite Sunningdale conference held. The 1979 census recorded a population over three million for the first time since 1911. The total was 3,368,217.
1986 In the 1980s emigration peaked at some 40,000 a year. Between 1986 and 1991, the population fell once more, from 3,540,643 to 3,525,717.
1990 Mary Robinson elected first woman president of Ireland
1996 In the year that a ban on divorce is removed by referendum, the Celtic tiger is in full swing. The trend swings once more, increasing to 3,626,087.
2002 In the year that the Irish punt is replaced with the euro, the population - boosted by returning emigrants - creeps upwards to 3,917,203 - the highest since 1871.