The latest release of data by the Central Statistics Office from last year's Census showed that one in 10 of Mayo’s population were non-Irish nationals. According to the figures, there was a decline in the number of non-Irish nationals living in Mayo from the previous Census carried out in 2011.
The 12,835 non-Irish nationals living in the county in April 2016 was 962 (7.0 per cent ) fewer than were living in the county five years previously. They comprised 10 per cent of the county’s population, compared with 10.7 per cent in 2011. Nationally, 11 per cent of the population were non-Irish nationals.
There were 5,161 UK nationals living in the county, while the 2,802 Polish nationals comprised the second largest grouping. Together, these accounted for 62 per cent of all non-Irish nationals resident in the county. Lithuanian, Latvian, and US nationals completed the top five non-Irish nationalities and collectively comprised 13.9 per cent of the county’s non-Irish national population.
Among towns with a population of 1,500 or above, Ballyhaunis, with a total population of 2,383, had a non-Irish national population of 941 (39.5 per cent ), making it the town with the highest proportion of non-Irish national residents in the country.
In the year prior to Census 2016, some 1,589 people moved into the county, an increase of 423 (36.3 per cent ) compared with the year prior to the 2011 census. Of these, 1,019 (64.1 per cent ) were born outside of the country.
The report shows that, in April 2016, there were 535,475 non-Irish nationals living in the country, a 1.6 per cent decrease on the 2011 figure of 544,357. The numbers of people holding dual citizenship (Irish-other country ) increased by 87.4 per cent to 104,784 persons.
