Offaly population at highest since 1861

The population of Offaly rose for the fifth consecutive census period and is now at its highest since the 1861 census, according to official statistics.

The population of the county stood at 77,961 in April 2016, an increase of 1.7% over the five years, the CSO revealed in summary census results released yesterday (Wednesday).

The population has jumped a whopping 22.4% since 2002 alone and whilst the rising trend continues, it is slowing dramatically.

Between the 2002 and 2006 census, the population of Offaly shot up by 11.3%. It increased by 8.2% between 2006 and 2011 and now rose 1.7% between 2011 and 2016.

Nationally, the country's population was 4,761,865 in April 2016, an increase of 173,613 (3.8%) since April 2011.

In April 2016, Offaly, had 285 more females than males (39,123) compared to 38,838.

Nationally, there were 97.8 males for every 100 females, a slight decline on the 2011 ratio of 98.1.

The average age of Offaly’s population in April 2016 was 37.2 years, compared to 35.7 years in April 2011.

Nationally, the average age of the population was 37.4, up from 36.1 in April 2011.

The number of Roman Catholics in Offaly fell by 2.2% compared to the last census, but  Catholics account for 87% of the population.

There was a significant rise in the number of Offaly residents, who were of no religion, who did not state a religion, or were of other stated religions.
The numbers of those who stated they were of no religion rose by 79.9 percentage points to 4.5%.

Nationally, the numbers of those with no religion is 9.8%, while the number of Catholics is 78.3% of the population.

Some 3,774 people were divorced/separated in Offaly, a rate of 4.8%, compared to the national rate of 4.7%.

27,807 people in Offaly stated that they could speak Irish, compared to 28,178 in April 2011.

Within this figure, 599 spoke Irish daily outside the education system, while 1,642 spoke Irish weekly outside the education system.

Some 905 Irish Travellers resided in Offaly in April 2016, a decline of 11.7% since 2011.

More than one in four Offaly homes which provided an answer (25.4%) had no internet access.

16,412 dwellings in Offaly had broadband access in April 2016, an increase of 15.8% since April 2011. 3,319 dwellings had non-broadband internet access, an increase of 4.5%, while the number of dwellings with no internet access fell by 22.0% to 6,708.