The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (26 October 2023) published Census of Population 2022 Profile 5 - Diversity, Migration, Ethnicity, Irish Travellers and Religion
Tá leagan Gaeilge den leathanch seo ar fáil. Féach Daonáireamh 2022 Próifíl 5 - Éagsúlacht, Imirce, Eitneacht, An Lucht Siúil agus Creideamh.
There were almost 632,000 non-Irish citizens living in Ireland in Census 2022, which was 12% of the population.
Almost 313,000, or nearly half, were citizens of European Union (EU) countries, and over 83,000 were UK citizens.
In the year preceding the census, over 89,500 people moved to Ireland.
Almost 10,000 of the people who moved to Ireland in the year preceding Census 2022 came from India while over 5,000 came from Brazil.
Just under 3.9 million or 77% of people identified their ethnic group or background as White - Irish.
The next largest ethnic group was Any Other White background at 10%, followed by Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi at 2%, and Black or Black-Irish at 1%.
The number of usually resident Irish Travellers increased by 6% to 32,949. Looking at the overall population, 15% were aged 65 years and over, compared with just 5% of Irish Travellers.
Over 736,000 people or 14% of the population living in Ireland reported they had no religion, an increase of 63% from Census 2016.
| Kathleen Goulding | (+353) 1 895 1413 |
|---|---|
| Tony Downes | (+353) 1 895 1319 |
| censuspublicity@cso.ie | |
| pressoffice@cso.ie |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (26 October 2023) released Census 2022 Profile 5 Diversity, Migration, Ethnicity, Irish Travellers, and Religion. Profile 5 looks at the diversity of the population in Ireland, including country of citizenship, ethnic group/background and languages spoken. Recent migration in the year leading up to the census, Irish Travellers, and the topic of religion are also covered in the publication.
Commenting on the results, Brendan Murphy, Statistician in the Census Division, said: “This report covers five separate topics resulting from questions on the census form and gives insights into the different citizenships living in Ireland, patterns of immigration in the year leading up to the census, ethnic group/background, Irish Travellers, and religion. Along with today’s publication, there are a large number of data tables available to view on the CSO website. A change for Census 2022 was the replacement of the nationality question with a country of citizenship question. As of Census night 03 April 2022, 12% of the population were non-Irish citizens, with people from Poland and the UK making up the largest groups. The average age of the non-Irish population was 36, which is younger than the average age of the Irish population at 39, but it is worth noting that the average age for both groups is increasing. Some population groups are much younger though, for example nearly 80% of the 27,338 Brazilians living in Ireland on Census night were aged between 23 and 43 compared with only 25% of the Irish population in the same age bracket.
Profile 5 also shows that more than 750,000 people spoke a language other than English or Irish at home, with the most commonly spoken languages being Polish, Romanian, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
The census collects data on people who have come to live in the State in the year leading up to the census which gives a breakdown of patterns of migration. There was a 9% increase in the number of people moving to Ireland in the year to Census night (03 April 2022), to more than 89,500 people compared with the same period leading up to Census 2016. One in four of the people moving to Ireland were Irish citizens.
The question on ethnic group/background was updated for Census 2022 with new categories added including Roma, Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi, and Arab. The change to the question means that some categories are not directly comparable with the previous census results. The relationship between ethnic group/background and country of citizenship gives further insight into the diversity of the population. The most common country of citizenship of the Roma population living here was Ireland (28%), followed by Romania (22%), Italy (10%), and Poland (9%).
The Irish Traveller population rose by 6% to almost 33,000 people. The average age of Irish Travellers was 27 years compared with an average age of 39 for all people living in Ireland. Among the population overall, 15% were aged 65 years or over compared with just 5% of Irish Travellers.
The number of people with no religion living in Ireland grew to more than 736,000 or 14% of the population. This was up 63% since Census 2016. There were also large increases in the number of people whose religion was Orthodox (up 65% to 100,165), Islam (up 32% to 81,930), and Hindu (up 141% to 33,043).”
Diversity, Migration, Ethnicity, Irish Travellers, and Religion – Some Highlights Broken down by Theme
Citizenship
Census 2022 included a question asking ‘What is your country of citizenship?’. This is used to collect data on the number of people with Irish or non-Irish citizenship, or dual citizenship (both Irish and non-Irish). In previous censuses the question asked was ‘What is your nationality?’
There were almost 632,000 non-Irish citizens living in Ireland for Census 2022, which was 12% of the population. This compares with 11% of the population in Census 2016. Almost 313,000, or nearly half, were from other European Union (EU) countries, an increase of 2% since 2016. UK citizens made up 13% of the non-Irish population (83,347 people). There were just over 100,000 citizens of Asian countries living here, which was 16% of the non-Irish population. More than 25,000 were citizens from non-EU European countries, up 131% since 2016. This growth was largely driven by the crisis following the invasion of Ukraine.
Just over one in five people living in Dublin City (21%) were non-Irish citizens while 18% of Galway City residents and 17% of those in Fingal were non-Irish. UK citizens made up 36% of the non-Irish population in Donegal but just 6% of that in Dublin City.
Ballyhaunis in Mayo was the town with the highest proportion of non-Irish residents at 37%. Other towns with a large share of non-Irish citizens included the Longford towns of Ballymahon (33%) and Edgeworthstown (31%).
While the average ages of both Irish and non-Irish citizens have risen in recent censuses, non-Irish citizens were still on average younger than Irish citizens. Non-Irish citizens had an average age of 36 years compared with more than 39 years for Irish citizens. However, UK and German citizens were both older on average, at almost 50 years and 42 years respectively. Ukrainian citizens had an average age of 25 years. The number of Brazilians living in Ireland was 27,338 and nearly 80% were aged between 23 and 43 years compared with just 25% of Irish citizens.
More than 750,000 people spoke a language other than English or Irish at home. The majority of these could speak English either very well (57%) or well (26%) while 11% reported that they could not speak English well and 2% did not speak it at all.
Immigration
The census collects data on people who came to live in Ireland in the year leading up to the census. This gives a breakdown of immigration patterns and characteristics of the people who arrived.
Just over 89,500 people moved to Ireland in the year before Census 2022. This was a 9% increase on the numbers who moved in the year before Census 2016. Almost one in four of those who moved to Ireland in the 12 months before Census 2022 were Irish citizens. Of these, almost 8,400 had moved from the UK while more than 2,500 came from Australia.
Among the non-Irish citizens who came to Ireland in the year to April 2022, nearly 10,000 came from India and almost 5,200 came from Brazil. Of the top 10 countries from which people moved to Ireland, five were EU members – Spain, Romania, France, Italy, and Poland.
There were 18,566 people present in the State on Census night who indicated that their country of citizenship was Ukraine. Many of these people indicated that their country of usual residence was not Ireland, so they are not included in the main figures on country of citizenship which are based on people who were usually resident in Ireland at the time of the census.
Ethnic Group/Background
The question on ethnic group/background was updated for Census 2022 to include the new categories of Roma, Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi, and Arab.
There were almost 3.9 million people who identified their ethnic group/background as White-Irish in Census 2022. Almost 33,000 were White-Irish Travellers while more than 502,000 were of Any Other White background.
Looking at the new categories, there were 94,434 people with an Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi ethnic group or background. There were 20,115 people who indicated an Arab ethnic group/background and 16,059 people who identified as Roma.
The were 67,546 people with Black or Black-Irish – African ethnic group or background, which is up 17% on the 2016 figure. Nearly 8,700 people had a Black or Black-Irish – Any other Black ethnic group or background, up 28%.
There were 26,828 people with Asian or Asian Irish – Chinese ethnic group or background, which was 38% higher than in 2016.
Irish Travellers
The Irish Traveller population grew by 6% to almost 33,000 in Census 2022. This meant that six out of every 1,000 people in the State were Irish Travellers. Most counties saw an increase in their Traveller population, with the largest being in Offaly (up 30% to 1,174), Fingal (up 17% to 1,545), Tipperary (up 17% to 1,434), and Cork (up 11% to 2,376). However, the number of Travellers in some counties fell between 2016 and 2022, including Longford (down 13% to 913) and South Dublin (down 12% to 1,943).
The average age of Irish Travellers was 27 years compared with an average age of 39 for all people living in Ireland. Children under the age of 15 made up 20% of the total population but 36% of Irish Travellers. Among the population overall, 15% were aged 65 years and over compared with just 5% of Irish Travellers.
Looking at health status, 67% of Irish Travellers stated that their health status was good or very good, compared with 83% of the total population, while 4% stated they had bad or very bad health, compared with 2% of the total population.
Travellers were more likely to report experiencing at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to any extent, at 26%, compared with 22% of the total usual resident and present population. Among Traveller children under the age of 15 years, 7% reported experiencing at least one long-lasting condition or difficulty to a great extent, compared with 4% of all children.
Travellers were more likely to be daily smokers at 16% compared with 9% of the total population.
Religion
More than 3.5 million people, or 69% of the population, reported their religion was Roman Catholic. The second largest religious grouping was Church of Ireland or England, Anglican and Episcopalian with more than 124,700 people. The number of people who stated they had no religion increased to more than 736,000, or 14% of the population. This was up 63% since Census 2016. There were also large increases in the number of people whose religion was Orthodox (up 65% to over 100,000), Islam (up 32% to almost 82,000), and Hindu (up 141% to just over 33,000).
Among pre-school aged children (0 to 4 years), 65% were Roman Catholic while 16% had no religion. Of those aged 5 to 9 years, 72% were Roman Catholic with 11% having no religion. People aged 25 to 29 years were less likely to be Roman Catholic (53%) than other age groups. They were also the age group with the highest proportion of people with no religion (26%).