Census results for Meath shows population growth of six per cent
Census 2016 results show that Meath was one of the fastest growing counties in the country with Meath's population growing by 5.9 per cent in five years to 195,044.
Ireland’s population stood at 4,761,865 in April 2016, an increase of 173,613 (3.8 per cent) since April 2011.
The total number of non-Irish nationals has fallen slightly to 535,475, or 11.6 per cent of the population, the first decline since the introduction of this question in 2002, while the number of people with dual-Irish nationality has increased by 48,879 to 104,784 people since April 2011.
These are some of the headline figures from the Census 2016 Summary Results Part I, which is published today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
As well as detailing the overall change in the population since April 2011, Census 2016 Summary Results Part I, provides summary results on age profile, marital status, families, nationality, Irish language, foreign languages,
religion and housing.
More females than males
Meath’s population in April 2016 was comprised of 96,776 males and 98,268 females.
There were 53,009 more females than males in the State, giving an overall sex ratio of 97.8 males for every 100 females, a slight decline on the 2011 ratio of 98.1.
Ageing population
The average age of Meath’s population in April 2016 was 35.2 years, compared to 33.8 years in April 2011.
Nationally, the average age of the population was 37.4, up from 36.1 in April 2011. The number of males aged 65 and over increased by 22 per cent to 296,837, while the number of females aged 65 and over increased by 16.7 per cent to 340,730.
Numbers divorced/separated continues to increase
8,945 people were divorced/separated in Meath, a rate of 4.6 per cent, compared to the national rate of 4.7 per cent. The number
of divorced people in Ireland has increased to 103,895 (18 per cent) since 2011.The number of separated people increased
slightly to 118,178 (from 116,194 in 2011).
Irish language
71,763 people stated that they could speak Irish in Meath, compared to 68,259 in April 2011. Within this figure,
2,363 spoke Irish daily outside the education system, while 4,313 spoke Irish weekly outside the education system.
Nationally, 1,761,420 people stated that they were able to speak Irish, with 73,803 speaking Irish daily outside the
education system and 111,473 doing so weekly.
Irish Travellers
971 Irish Travellers resided in County Meath in April 2016, an increase of 0.4 per cent since 2011. Nationally, the number of
people enumerated as Irish Travellers increased by 5.1 per cent to 30,987.
Broadband
46,851 dwellings in Meath had broadband access in April 2016, an increase of 12.5 per cent since April 2011. 5,495
dwellings had non-broadband internet access, a decline of 5.3 per cent, while the number of dwellings with no internet access fell by 24.4 per cent to 10,022. Nationally, 312,982 dwellings (18.4 per cent) had no internet connection, down from more than 1 in 4 (25.8 per cent) in 2011.
Broadband use in private households increased to 70.7 per cent (from 63.8 per cent in 2011) and 148,125 more households had a broadband connection.
Deirdre Cullen, Senior Statistician, commented “Today’s publication is the first of a series of 13 reports on Census 2016 that are due to be published this year. As well as the two summary reports, the CSO will publish 11 thematic
profile releases, each of which will explore separate topics such as housing, the homeless, religion, disability and carers in greater detail. Together, these will provide a comprehensive demographic and socio-economic profile of
Ireland in April 2016.”