This publication is part of a series of results from Census 2022. More thematic publications will be published as outlined in the Census 2022 Publication Schedule.
The 26th census since 1841 was carried out on the night of Sunday, 03 April 2022 in accordance with the Statistics (Census of Population) Order 2020 and in order to facilitate the EU requirements arising from the implementing legislation associated with Regulation (EC) No. 763/2008 on population and housing censuses.
The census population figures in this report relate to the de facto population meaning persons who were present in the State on the night of Sunday, 03 April 2022. The de facto population includes persons who do not usually live in Ireland but who were in the State on Census Night. It excludes persons who usually live in Ireland but who were temporarily absent, outside of the State, on Census Night. Persons who were present in the State were enumerated and are reported at the location where they spent Census Night. This may not have been the location where they usually live.
The 26th census was originally scheduled to take place on the night of Sunday, 08 April 2021. Following advice from the CSO, the government decided in September 2020 to postpone the census for approximately one year owing to the ongoing difficulties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the purposes of census enumeration, the State was divided into 6 Census Liaison Areas, 46 Regions, 466 Field Districts and 5,100 Enumeration Areas. Census Enumerators were assigned to these Enumeration Areas and, during the five weeks before Census Night, delivered census questionnaires to all dwellings that were expected to be occupied on Sunday, 03 April 2022. Each address within an Enumeration Area was recorded as either occupied, unoccupied or not suitable for habitation.
The collection of completed questionnaires took place between Monday, 04 April and Friday, 06 May 2022.
The data in this report is based on the information handwritten on the census forms. After collection, the census forms were returned to CSO where they were scanned to capture and digitize the handwritten information. This digitized information was then processed to prepare it for publication.
The date of the census was chosen to coincide with a period when as many people as possible were at their home address and consequently the figures closely approximate the normally resident population.
The de facto measure of the population represents all persons who were present in the State on Census Night, irrespective of whether they were usually resident in the State at the time of the census.
The usually resident and present measure of the population refers to all persons who usually live in Ireland and who were present in the State on Census Night. It excludes persons who were not usually resident in the State on Census Night but who were present and persons who were usually resident in the State but were outside the State on Census Night.
The usually resident and present measure is used when analysing topics such as country of citizenship and households and families.
The classification of frequency of speaking Irish is the same that was used in 2016.
| A | Daily, within the education system |
| B | Daily, outside the education system |
| C | Weekly |
| D | Less often |
| E | Never |
Categories B to E may include people who also speak Irish within the education system.
In Census 2022, if people answered Yes to Q13 (Can you speak Irish?), they were also asked how well they spoke the language with the following response options:
| 1 | Very Well |
| 2 | Well |
| 3 | Not Well |
*Please note, for the percentage figures for Irish speakers, not stated values are excluded from the calculation. The denominator is the sum of those who answered they can or cannot speak Irish, and not stated values are omitted as in previous census publications.
The Gaeltacht Areas Orders, 1956, 1967, 1974 and 1982 defined the Gaeltacht as comprising 155 Electoral Divisions or parts of Electoral Divisions in the counties of Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Mayo, Meath and Waterford. The population of these Electoral Divisions or parts thereof is given in the Appendix Table 2 Population of Gaeltacht by Limistéir Pleanála Teanga Ghaeltachta by Sex, 2022 in the Background Notes of Census 2022 Profile 1 Population Distribution and Movements.
In Census 2022, persons aged 15 years and over were asked two questions. The first question asked if a person had ceased their full-time education. If they had answered Yes, they were then asked the age at which it ceased. The second question asked what the highest level of education completed (full-time or part-time) was. The levels ranged from no formal education to a tertiary postdoctorate degree.
For the percentage figures for the education, only people who have indicated their education had ceased were included in the calculations. People who have an Economic Status of at school, university, or other are excluded from the calculations. However, for Figure 2.1. and Table 2.1, for historical purposes, not stated values for education ceased were excluded from the calculations.
The Field of Study question, which had been included in both Census 2011 and Census 2016, was removed from the Census 2022 form. CSO plans to make Field of Study data from Census 2022 available through combining responses from Census 2016 and data from the Higher Education Authority and modelling responses based upon occupation and industry. The Field of Study data will be added to PxStat in the coming months.
The census labour force participation rate is calculated as the proportion of persons aged 15 and over who are economically active (ie working, looking for their first regular job or unemployed) in the entire population over the age of 15.
The results of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) provide the basis for the official series of quarterly labour force estimates. The labour force and its constituent figures shown in this report are directly based on the census. Users should be aware that information derived from identical questions in the census and LFS for the same year may show appreciable differences. The main categories affected are the constituents of the question on principal economic status and the employment estimates classified by industry and occupation.
The main reasons for the differences are:
• The LFS uses the International Labour Organisation (ILO) classification, which has a much wider range of questions on the labour force and which may have a bearing on the responses received to individual questions. Under the ILO criteria, employment, unemployment and inactive population are defined as follows:
In employment: Persons who worked in the week before the survey for one hour or more for payment or profit, including work on the family farm or business and all persons who had a job but were not at work because of illness, holidays etc in the week.
Unemployed: Persons who, in the week before the survey, were without work and available for work within the next two weeks, and had taken specific steps, in the preceding four weeks, to find work.
Inactive population (not in labour force): All other persons.
• The census form is completed by a responsible adult in each household throughout the State in respect of everyone present in the household on Census Night while the LFS is collected by in person and telephone-based survey interviews
• The census relates to all persons present in the State (including visitors from abroad) at the time of the census while the LFS covers persons usually resident in Ireland
• The census is a complete enumeration while the LFS is a sample survey. The chief difference resulting from this is that the census records an unemployment rate (based on Principal Economic Status) of 8 per cent, compared with the official rate (based on ILO criteria) of 4.6 per cent for Quarter 1 of 2022. Notwithstanding these differences, the main strength of the census-based data on employment and unemployment is the provision of data for small geographic areas, analysis on the comparisons between areas, the provision of data on unemployment blackspots, and other analysis across multiple variables such as marital status, detailed country of citizenship, etc.
The entire population is also classified into one of the following social class groups (introduced in 1996) which are defined on the basis of occupation:
| 1 | Professional workers |
| 2 | Managerial and technical |
| 3 | Non-manual |
| 4 | Skilled manual |
| 5 | Semi-skilled |
| 6 | Unskilled |
| 7 | All others gainfully occupied and unknown |
The occupations included in each of these groups have been selected in such a way as to bring together, as far as possible, people with similar levels of occupational skill. In determining social class, no account is taken of the differences between individuals on the basis of other characteristics such as education. Accordingly, social class ranks occupations by the level of skill required on a social class scale, ranging from 1 (highest) to 7 (lowest). This scale combines occupations into six groups by occupation and employment status following procedures similar to those outlined above for the allocation of socio-economic group. A residual category 'All others gainfully occupied and unknown' is used where no precise allocation is possible.
A break in the time series has occurred for social class between Census 2022 and previous census results. In 2022, the social class framework was rebased to incorporate the SOC2010 classification unlike previous census results published. It was possible to rebase social class using a derivation matrix developed by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER)[3] in conjunction with the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Although the categories remain the same, it is important to note the break in time series when comparing historical tables to Census 2022 results.
[1] and [3] ISER - University of Essex Archives
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