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 Westmeath. 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 |
-- ENDS --
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 Westmeath
Citizenship
In Westmeath non-Irish citizens accounted for 12% of the county’s population.Among the non-Irish residents, the largest group were Polish citizens (1,832 people), followed by UK citizens (1,357), Indian (1,034) and Lithuanian (1,005). Nationally there were more than 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 1,826 in 2016 to 3,180 in 2022. The largest dual-Irish citizenships included Irish-UK (527 people), Irish-US (521) and Irish-Polish (332). There were more than 170,500 dual-Irish residents in Ireland in Census 2022.
Immigration
There were 3,028 people living in Westmeath in April 2022 who had moved to the county in the year before the census. This included 1,748 people who had moved from elsewhere within Ireland, and 1,280 people from outside the State. A further 2,684 people had moved within the county in the year before the census
Ethnic group/background
More than 73,800 people living in Westmeath in April 2022 had a White Irish ethnic group or background. A further 8,398 people identified as Any other White. There were 1,976 people whose ethnic group/background was Asian or Asian Irish - Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi and 1,425 people with a Black or Black Irish – African ethnic group/background.
Irish Travellers
There were 974 Travellers in Westmeath in Census 2022, compared with 1,002 in 2016 (-3%). This included 496 females and 478 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 almost 70,600 people in the county were Catholic (73%). 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 Westmeath included Church of Ireland (with 2,019 people), Orthodox (1,706) and Islam (1,645). There were more than 10,200 people who stated they did not have a religion, which was up from almost 5,600 in Census 201683%. They made up 11% of the county’s population, compared with 6% in 2016.