the late 1700s, Leinster looked as shown in the above map of 1784. Geography and subdivisions Counties The province is divided into twelve traditional counties: Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow. Leinster has the most counties of any province, but is the second smallest of the four Irish provinces by land area. With a population of 2,858,501 as of 2022, it is the island's most populous province. Dublin is the only official city in the province, and is by far its largest settlement. Large settlements As of the 2016 census, the larger settlements in Leinster included: Culture Language As is the norm for language in Ireland, English is the primary spoken language, but there is an active Irish-speaking minority in the province. According to the Census of Ireland of 2011, there were 18,947 daily speakers of Irish in Leinster outside the education system, including 1,299 native speakers in the small Gaeltacht of Ráth Chairn. As of 2011, there were 19,348 students attending the 66 Gaelscoils (Irish-language primary schools) and 15 Gaelcholáistí (Irish-language secondary schools) in the province, primarily in the Dublin area. Sport A number of sporting and cultural organisations organise themselves on provincial lines, including Leinster Rugby, the Leinster Cricket Union, Leinster Hockey Association and Leinster GAA. While Leinster GAA is made up primarily of the traditional counties of the province, GAA teams from Galway, Kerry and Antrim have played in the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, as has a team from London; Galway won the title in 2012. Participation of these counties is based on their performances in the Christy Ring Cup. See also Duke of Leinster Leinster (European Parliament constituency) Leinster House List of kings of Leinster New Leinster Province Ó Laighin References External links CSO Irish Regional Income/GDP 2004 Report Provinces of Ireland