The proportion of Catholics in Ireland, 1881 to 2016

In 2016 Roman Catholics accounted for 78.3 per cent of the de facto population compared with 84.2 per cent in 2011.

Looking back, census results show that historically Roman Catholics represented on average of 89.5 per cent of the population in each of the four censuses held from 1881 to 1911.  It subsequently rose to a peak in 1961 of 94.9 per cent. Since then, its proportion of the total population has slowly declined.

While the proportion of Catholics declined in 2016, the total number also recorded a fall of 132,220 persons from 3.86 million in 2011 to 3.73 million in 2016, the first such fall in absolute numbers since at least five decades.

Interactive table: StatBank Link E8053

Number with no religion continues to rise

In 2016 persons indicating 'No Religion' accounted for 9.8 per cent of the population up from 5.9 per in 2011.  This was an increase of 198,610 persons over the five years, bringing the total to 468,421 and making ‘No Religion’ the second largest group in 2016.

Twenty-five years of religious change

The twenty-five years between 1991 and 2016 have seen significant increases in the non-Catholic population, driven by not only growing numbers with no religion but by increases also in other religions. 

The fastest growing religion in percentage terms has been Orthodox followed by Apostolic and Pentecostal. Figure 4.2 shows that among larger religions in the State, only two have an annualised growth rate that is lower than the overall change in the population between 1991 and 2016, namely Roman Catholics and Methodists.

Proportional breakdown of broad religion by age group

Figure 4.3 illustrates the proportional breakdown of the population by broad religion and age group in 2011 and 2016.

In 2016 the proportion of Roman Catholics increased steadily from 75.5 per cent for those aged less than one, to 83.5 per cent for 11 year olds. It then falls with increasing age to reach a low of 60.5 per cent for 27 year olds before steadily rising to reach a peak for 82 year olds at 91.9 per cent.

The mirror reverse of this pattern can be largely seen for those indicating no religion, with an initial low of 4.5 per cent for 12 years olds, rising to a peak of 18.5 per cent for those aged 26 before declining as the population ages. 

The proportional fluctuations at an age group basis are not as pronounced for those signalling other stated religions, although they show similar trends as those with no religion, particularly in the post 20 year olds.

 

Interactive table: StatBank Link E8066

Religion by county

Among stated responses, the administrative county of Offaly had the highest percentage of Catholics in 2016 with 88.6 per cent while Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the lowest at 69.8 per cent. All of the major urban areas - with the exception of Limerick City and County - featured as having low percentages of Catholics. 

Fingal had the highest percentage of other religions, at 15.2 per cent, followed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at 13.1 per cent while Galway County had the lowest at 5.1 per cent. 

Dublin City had the highest percentage of those with no religion with nearly 1 in 5 belonging to this category, while Monaghan was the lowest with 3.8 per cent. 

Interactive table: StatBank Link E8057

Urban and rural

There was a higher percentage of Catholics in rural areas (85.9%) than urban areas (73.8%). Indeed the percentage of Catholics falls as settlement size rises with small towns of 9,999 or fewer persons having 80.7 per cent Catholics while large towns of 10,000 or more having 72.1 per cent.

Those with no religion were concentrated in urban areas with just over three out of four in this group located in cities, towns or settlements of 1,500 or more persons.

Dublin city and suburbs accounted for 23.6 per cent of Church of Ireland members, while 55.1 per cent were based in urban areas over all compared with 44.9 per cent in rural areas. 

Muslims in Ireland were highly concentrated in urban areas with only 5.8 per cent in rural areas, while 43.5 per cent were in Dublin city and suburbs alone. 

Marriage and religion

Figure 4.5 examines the religion of married opposite-sex couples by whether their spouse was of the same or a different religion.

The results show that 95.6 per cent of Muslim females were married to Muslim males while only 54.6 per cent of Church of Ireland females were married to Church of Ireland males. Among Catholics, 96.0 per cent of Catholic males were married to Catholic females. For males of no religion 53.3  per cent were married to a female with no religion while for females of no religion 74.1 per cent were married to someone who also had no religion.