Summary results on Ireland's Census 2022 released by CSO

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released Census 2022 Summary Results for the Republic of Ireland. These 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.  For a speedy overview, see the infographic below.

Here are some of the results:

• Ireland’s population increased by 8% (387,274 people) to 5,149,139 in the six years between April 2016 and April 2022. It is the first time since 1851 (171 years) that the population of the historical 26 counties exceeded the five million threshold. 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%).
• The average age of the population rose from 37.4 in 2016 to 38.8 in 2022, compared with 36.1 in 2011.
• The number of people with dual Irish citizenship was 170,597, up by 63% since 2016.
• The proportion of the population who identified as Roman Catholics fell from 79% in 2016 to 69% in 2022. The 'No Religion' category increased from 451,941 people to 736,210 (14%). The Church of Ireland category showed little change but remained the second largest religious category with 124,749 people (2%).
• More than 700,000 people indicated that they undertook voluntary work. Of these, nearly 300,000 people volunteered in a sporting organisation.
• Almost 80% of households had a broadband internet connection in 2022, up from 71% in 2016.

More than 19% of the state's 1.8million occupied private households completed Census 2022's non-mandatory Time Capsule space. The completion rate by county varied from 16% to 21%. No further information about the Time Capsule was gathered or will be released. So that's 348,443 Time Capsules now waiting in secure storage for release in 100 years. Who wouldn't want to be an Irish family historian in 2123?

CSO's Infographic of Census 2022 Summary Results. Click to study the full release.