The number of people living in rural areas has increased by 22 per cent over the last 10 years, according to Teagasc's Rural Economy Research Centre.
However, the research suggests that the official classification of "rural" may no longer be valid because of the substantial spillover of urban centres into the countryside.
Researcher David Meredith said that using a statistical definition of "rural" favoured by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the area of land classified as urban increased by 54 per cent in the same period.
Mr Meredith said that not only are urban centres growing by encroaching upon formerly rural areas, but rural population is increasingly concentrated around these urban centres and along major roads.
"People have chosen to migrate to these areas in search of cheaper housing and a better quality of life with the result that rural communities close to towns and cities are experiencing significant population growth," he said.
"Such has been the development that these areas are now considered peri-urban rather than rural," he said in his paper entitled Changing Distribution of Ireland's Population 1996-2006: Urban/Rural Analysis.
While the population of the State grew from 3.62 million in 1996 to 4.23 million this year, not all areas experienced growth and 977 electoral districts showed no growth or lost a population in the period.
This happened to a greater extent in cities like Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.