Leinster

Leinster Laighin[1]
Flag Coat of arms
State	Ireland
Counties	Carlow Dublin Kildare Kilkenny Laois Longford Louth Meath Offaly Westmeath Wexford Wicklow
Area
• Total	19,801 km2 (7,645 sq mi)
• Rank	3rd
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	2,870,354
• Rank	1st
• Density	140/km2 (380/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC±0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (IST)
Eircode routing keys	Beginning with A, C, D, K, N, R, W, Y (primarily)
Telephone area codes	01, 04x, 05x, 090 (primarily)
ISO 3166 code	IE-L
Patron Saint: Brigid[3] a. ^ Leinster contains the entirety of the Dublin constituency and parts of the South and Midlands–North-West constituencies; Leinster contains 44.4% of the population of the Midlands–North-West constituency and 32.3% of the population of the South constituency.[4]

Leinster (/ˈlɛnstər/ LEN-stər; Irish: Laighin [ˈl̪ˠəinʲ] or Cúige Laighean [ˌkuːɟə ˈl̪ˠəinˠ]) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland.

The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic "fifths" of Leinster and Meath gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled both, thereby forming the present-day province of Leinster. The ancient kingdoms were shired into a number of counties for administrative and judicial purposes. In later centuries, local government legislation has prompted further sub-division of the historic counties.

Leinster has no official function for local-government purposes. However, it is an officially recognised subdivision of Ireland and is listed on ISO 3166-2 as one of the four provinces of Ireland. "IE-L" is attributed to Leinster as its country sub-division code. Leinster had a population of 2,858,501 according to the preliminary results of the 2022 census, making it the most populous province in the country.^[2] The traditional flag of Leinster features a golden harp on a green background.