Offaly is Ireland's most Catholic county

Offaly is the most Catholic county in Ireland, according to the latest Census data.

In total, 67,849 of Offaly people, 87% of the total population, identified themselves as Catholic in last year's Census compared to the national average of 78%. The number of local Catholics is down slightly on the 2011 Census, when there was 69,400.

 As with the state overall, the next largest group in the census were the people who described themselves as having no religion. In 2011, 1,957 Offaly people stated that they had no religion, 2.6% of the totoal poplation, while by 2016 the figure had increased to 3,520, 4.5% of the overall population.

The report, Irish Travellers, Ethnicity and Religion, revealed that there were 2,271 Church of Ireland members in Offaly and that on average they were five years older (42.2 years) than the overall population in the county.

Orthodox (677) and Muslims (573) were the fourth and fifth most common religions in the county.

On the topic of ethnicity, 67,481 (86.8%) of Offaly people stated that they wee from a "White Irish" ethnic or cultural background, an increase of 325 on 2011.

The next largest grouping, "Any Other White Background", accounted for 5,984 persons (7.7%) and increase of 170.

Those with "Black or Black Irish (African/any other Black Background)" comprised 389 persons (0.5%) while 765 persons (1,0%) indicated an "Asian or Asian Irish (Chinese/any other Asian background)".

A further 708 (0.9%) stated they were of "Other, including mixed background" while 1,513 (1.9%) did not state their ethnic/cultural background.

The report also revealed that there were 910 Travellers in the county in April of last year, a decline of 147 (13.9%) on 2011, when the figure was 1,057.