A notable increase in the County Westmeath population figure is just one of a number of pertinent statistics detailed in the Central Statistics Office (CSO ) Census 2022 summary results released on Tuesday afternoon.
The Census 2022 summary results, which detail the population changes at a national level since April 2016, show that the population of Westmeath increased by eight percent to 96,221, which means the number of people in the county rose by 7,451 between April 2016 and April 2022.
This figure is similar to the population growth from a national perspective, the country’s population also growing by eight percent during this particular timeframe.
Results for Westmeath
Population – Males and Females
Of Westmeath’s population, 48,500 were female and 47,721 were male, which means there were 98 males for every 100 females. In Ireland overall there were 2,604,590 females and 2,544,549 males or 98 males for every 100 females.
Population by Age
The average age of Westmeath’s population in April 2022 was 38.6 years, compared with 36.8 years in April 2016. Nationally, the average age of the population was 38.8, up from 37.4 in April 2016.
The number of people aged 65 and over continues to grow. This age group increased by 26% to 14,369 in Westmeath, and by 22% to 776,315 at a national level since 2016.
Dual Irish Citizens
In Westmeath, the number of dual Irish citizens increased from 1,826 to 3,180 while non-Irish citizens accounted for 11% of the county’s population. Nationally, dual Irish citizenship increased by 63% from 104,784 to 170,597 people and non-Irish citizens made up 12% of the population.
Divorce/Separation
The proportion of separated and divorced people in Westmeath remained steady at 7% of the population (aged 15 and over ), the same as in 2016. The national comparison was 6% in both 2022 and 2016.
Health
In 2022, 82% of people in Westmeath stated that their health was good or very good compared with 87% in 2016. Nationally, 83% of people stated that their health was good/very good, compared to 87% in 2016.
Irish Speakers
The number of people (aged three and over ) who stated that they could speak Irish in Westmeath was 33,598 compared with 32,209 in 2016. Within this figure 632 said they spoke Irish daily while 1,786 spoke Irish weekly. Nationally, 1,873,997 people stated they were able to speak Irish, with 71,968 speaking Irish daily and 115,065 speaking it weekly.
Employment
There were 42,077 people (aged 15 and over ) at work in Westmeath, an increase of 6,788 people (+19% ) between 2016 and 2022. Nationally, there were 313,656 additional people (+16% ) at work.
Working From Home
In Westmeath, 11,096 people (aged 15 and over ) worked from home at least one day a week in 2022. This represented 26% of the workforce. The national figure was 32%.
Childcare
This was a new question for Census 2022. There were 19,779 children aged 15 and under in Westmeath in April 2022. Of these, 6,343 (32% ) were in childcare, compared with 33% nationally.
Tenure
In 2022, in Westmeath 68% of households owned their own home, with a further 26% renting. This compared with 66% of households owning their home nationally and 28% renting.
Time Capsule
In Westmeath, 19% of households wrote a message in the Time Capsule. Nationally, this figure was 19%
National Statistics
Census 2022 revealed that Ireland’s population increased to 5.15 million persons.
It is the first time in 171 years that Ireland’s population exceeded the five million threshold. There were 5,149,139 people in the State on Sunday, 03 April 2022, an eight percent increase since April 2016.
The average age of the population increased 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, which represents a 63% increase from 2016.
There was a drop from 87% to 83% in the proportion of people who reported their health was good or very good since 2016.
Approximately a third of all workers (747,961 people ) worked from home for at least some part of their week.
The proportion of the population who identified Roman Catholic as their religion fell from 79% in 2016 to 69% in 2022.
More than 700,000 people indicated that they undertook voluntary work, and of those, 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.
“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 Census 2022 participation, Mr Halpin concluded.
