Wexford saw a 9 .5 % increase in population to 163,919 revealed the latest census figures. The Figures published from the Central Statistics Office shows Ireland’s population has reached over five million people.
It is the first time in 171 years that Ireland’s population exceeded the five million threshold.The average age of the population increased from 37.4 in 2016 to 38.8 in 2022, compared with 36.1 in 2011.
Figures show Wexford has seen an above the average increase as nationally we saw an eight per cent increase since April 2016. All counties showed population growth from five per cent in Donegal, Kilkenny, and Tipperary, to 14 per cent in Longford.
Of Wexford’s population, 83,142 were female and 80,777 were male, which means there were 97 males for every 100 females. In Ireland overall there were 2,604,590 females and 2,544,549 males or 98 males for every 100 females. The average age of Wexford’s population in April 2022 was 40 years, compared with 38.1 years in April 2016. Nationally, the average age of the population was 38.8, up from 37.4 in April 2016. The number of people aged 65 and over continues to grow. This age group increased by 25% to 27,403 in Wexford, and by 22% to 776,315 at a national level since 2016.
Other figures showed the number of people with dual Irish citizenship was 170,597, which represents a 63% increase from 2016. In Wexford, the number of dual Irish citizens increased from 2,186 to 4,219 while non-Irish citizens accounted for 9% of the county’s population. Nationally, dual Irish citizenship increased by 63% from 104,784 to 170,597 people and non-Irish citizens made up 12% of the population.
The proportion of separated and divorced people in Wexford remained steady at 7% of the population (aged 15 and over), the same as in 2016. The national comparison was 6% in both 2022 and 2016. The number of people (aged three and over) who stated that they could speak Irish in Wexford was 55,198 compared with 51,230 in 2016. Within this figure 1,123 said they spoke Irish daily while 2,895 spoke Irish weekly. Nationally, 1,873,997 people stated they were able to speak Irish, with 71,968 speaking Irish daily and 115,065 speaking it weekly.
There was a drop from 87% to 83% in the proportion of people who reported their health was good or very good since 2016. In 2022, 83% of people in Wexford stated that their health was good or very good compared with 87% in 2016. This is a similar trend to the national figures, which also showed a 4% decrease in the good/very good categories, from 87% to 83%.
There were 69,485 people (aged 15 and over) at work in Wexford, an increase of 11,726 people (+20%) between 2016 and 2022. Nationally, there were 313,656 additional people (+16%) at work. Approximately a third of all workers (747,961 people) worked from home for at least some part of their week. In Wexford, 17,932 people (aged 15 and over) worked from home at least one day a week in 2022. This represented 26% of the workforce. The national figure was 32%.
There were 32,482 children aged 15 and under in Wexford in April 2022. Of these, 10,976 (34%) were in childcare, compared with 33% nationally. In 2022 in Wexford, 70% of households owned their own home, with a further 24% renting. This compared with 66% of households owning their home nationally and 28% renting. Nationally , the proportion of the population who identified Roman Catholic as their religion fell from 79% in 2016 to 69% in 2022.
