CSO figures revealed an increase in the region between 2011 and 2016.
Irish Rural Link says we shouldn't get a false sense of security from the latest population figures in the midlands.
A new CSO report shows numbers living in rural areas in the region rose between 2011 and 2016.
But chief executive of the Moate-based group, Séamus Boland, feels the same barriers - regarding employment opportunities, access to services, and transport links - persist.
He says without commercial investment into the midlands, we can only expect further rural decline:
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