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 or background and languages spoken. Recent migration in the year leading up to the census, Irish Travellers and religion are also covered. This press release highlights some of the main results for Laois. A full list of county press releases is available.
| 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
Commenting on the results, Brendan Murphy, Statistician in the Census Division, said: “Profile 5 provides detailed information on the range of citizenships among the Irish population, including breakdowns by age and sex as well as by county and town. It shows the recent immigration to Ireland and migration within Ireland. The number of people that moved to Ireland in the year to Census night 03 April 2022 rose by 9% to more than 89,500 people compared with the same period in Census 2016. This wide-ranging profile also considers the various ethnic backgrounds of our population, including details on the age, sex, and citizenship of different groups. It looks at our Traveller population in 2022, including breakdowns by sex and household type. It also details the religious composition of the Irish population in April 2022.”
Some highlights for Laois
Citizenship
In Laois non-Irish citizens accounted for 10% of the county’s population. Among the non-Irish residents, the largest group were Polish citizens (2,298 people) followed by UK citizens (1,159), Lithuanian (712) and Romanian (569). Nationally there were over 631,000 non-Irish citizens, which was 12% of the population. The number of dual-Irish citizens, which is when you are a citizen of two countries at the same time, in the county increased from 1,376 in 2016 to 2,527 in 2022. The largest dual-Irish citizenships included Irish-Polish (450 people), Irish-UK (408) and Irish-Nigerian (241). There were more than 170,500 dual-Irish residents in Ireland in Census 2022.
Immigration
There were 2,686 people living in Laois in April 2022 who had moved to the county in the year before the census. This included 1,932 people who had moved from elsewhere within Ireland, and 754 people from outside the State. A further 2,440 people had moved within the county in the year before the census.
Ethnic group/background
More than 72,100 people living in Laois in April 2022 had a White Irish ethnic group or background. A further 8,384 people identified as Any other White. There were 1,248 people whose ethnic group/background was Asian or Asian Irish - Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi and 1,774 people with a Black or Black Irish – African ethnic group/background.
Irish Travellers
There were 812 Travellers in Laois in Census 2022, compared with 780 in 2016 (+4%). This included 416 females and 396 males. There were 32,949 Travellers in Ireland, compared with 30,987 in 2016 (+6%). This included 16,777 females and 16,172 males.
Religion
In Census 2022 more than 68,600 people in the county were Catholic (75%). This was down from 83% in Census 2016. Nationally, 69% stated they were Catholic, compared to 78% in 2016. The other most common religions in Laois included Church of Ireland (with 3,287 people), Orthodox (1,739) and Islam (1,462). There were more than 8,900 people who stated they did not have a religion, which was up from almost 4,800 in Census 2016, up 88%. They made up 10% of the county’s population, compared with 6% in 2016.