Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (30 May 2023) released Census 2022 Summary Results, which detail the population changes in the six years since April 2016. The results provide information on a variety of topics including population by age and sex, marital status, citizenship, Irish language, health, carers, foreign languages, religion, and employment. New questions were added to Census 2022 resulting in new  data on topics such as childcare, volunteering, smoking, and renewable energy sources.

Cormac Halpin, Senior Statistician in the Census Division, thanked everyone for their participation in Census 2022: “The publication of Census 2022 results could not have been achieved without the overwhelmingly positive response from the public and we thank everyone who completed their census form on 03 April 2022. We would also like to thank everyone involved in the Census 2022 campaign culminating in today’s successful publication of the results.”

Commenting on the results, Cormac Halpin said: “Today’s publication is the first in a series of reports on Census 2022. Throughout the rest of this year, the CSO will publish eight themed reports, exploring a range of topics including housing, homelessness, religion, disability, and carers in greater detail. Small Area Population Statistics (SAPS) will also be published in September.

The results will provide us with unique and valuable insights into the Ireland that we live in today and will be widely used in the coming years.”

Some of the Highlights of the Report

Population Changes

Ireland’s population increased by 8% (387,274 people) to 5,149,139 in the six years between April 2016 and April 2022. All counties showed population growth from 5% in Donegal, Kilkenny, and Tipperary, to 14% in Longford. The east of the country showed strong growth with Meath at 13%, followed by Fingal (12%) and Kildare (11%).

Population by Age and Sex

The highest increase in population was seen in the over 70s at 26% while there was a 4% fall in the numbers of people aged 25 to 39. The average age of the population increased from 37.4 in 2016 to 38.8 in 2022 continuing the aging population trend from 2011 when it was 36.1.

There were 2,544,549 males and 2,604,590 females in the country which is 98 males for every 100 females. 

Citizenship

Irish and dual-Irish citizens made up 84% of the population. The number of non-Irish citizens increased since 2016 and now stands at 631,785, which represents 12% of Ireland's usual resident population. The number of people who recorded dual Irish citizenship was 170,597, representing a 63% increase from 2016.

General Health

The proportion of people who reported their general health status as either very good or good fell from 87% to 83% between 2016 and 2022. Apart from those aged 75 years and over, all other age groups reported a shift from good to less good health. In 2022, 52% of people aged 35 to 39 reported very good health, compared with 61% in 2016.

Disability

The number of people who reported experiencing at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to a great extent or a lot was 407,342 (8% of the population).  A further 702,215 (14% of the population) reported a long-lasting condition or difficulty to some extent or a little.

Carers

The number of unpaid carers increased by 53% to more than 299,000 between 2016 and 2022. There were increases in the proportion of the population providing unpaid care across most age groups. People aged between 50 and 59 were the group most likely to be providing regular unpaid care. It should be noted that there were a number of changes to the question on unpaid carers on the 2022 census form which may affect comparability with the previous census.

Marital Status

Single people aged 15 and over made up 43% of Ireland's population, compared with 41% in 2016. There were more single men (52%) than women (48%). Married people, including those who were re-married, and people in a same-sex civil partnership, accounted for 46% of the population aged 15 years and over, down from 48% six years ago.

Volunteering

In April 2022, 711,379 people reported that they regularly engaged in volunteering activities. The largest numbers of volunteers were in Sport followed by Community, Social/Charity, Religious and Political areas. Males were most likely to volunteer in a sporting organisation while females were more likely to volunteer in their community.

Childcare (under the age of 15)

Just under one in three children under the age of 15 were in childcare in 2022. The most common type of childcare used was a creche or a similar facility. These provided care to 139,899 children in April 2022. The second most common type of childcare was provided by an unpaid relative or family member to 92,118 children.

Religion

There was a fall in the proportion of the population who identified as Roman Catholic from 3,696,644 (79%) in 2016 to 3,515,861 (69%) in 2022. The No Religion category increased from 451,941 people to 736,210. The Church of Ireland category showed little change but remained the second largest religious category with 124,749 people (2%).

Tenure

The proportion of owner-occupied dwellings continued to fall, down from almost 70% to 66% in the 11 years from Census 2011 to 2022. The number of households who rented their accommodation from a private landlord rose by 7% to 330,632 between April 2016 and April 2022.

Working from Home

Nearly 750,000 people, a third of workers, indicated that they worked from home for at least some part of their week. Four out of five business, media and public service professionals availed of home working. The proportion of workers in the science, research, engineering and technology professionals group who ever worked from home was also high at 78%.

Broadband

Almost 80% of households had a broadband internet connection in 2022 up from 71% in 2016 and 64% in 2011.

Commuting

The number of people who drove to work increased by 4% to 1.2 million between 2016 and 2022. There was a 7% increase in the number of people who cycled to work, bringing the number to more than 60,000. There were 4% fewer people commuting to work by train, LUAS or DART.

Time Capsule

Of the 1.8 million occupied private households enumerated during Census 2022, 348,443 (19%) completed the Time Capsule. The completion rate by county ranged from 16% to 21% (See Editor’s Note below).