Preliminary Census Results Show 7% Increase In Clare’s Population

Picture (c) Jason Clarke for Census 2022

The population of Clare has increased by more than 7% over the past six years.

The Central Statistics Office has today published the preliminary results from Census 2022, which suggest that housing isn’t keeping pace with population growth in this county.

The CSO’s preliminary results, published 12 weeks after Census night, are based on initial counts from more than 5,000 enumeration areas across the country.

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Nationally, the population of the Republic of Ireland is now the highest it has been since pre-Famine times, with 5.1 million people in this country now, up 7.6% in six years.

The results showed that all counties experienced population growth since the 2016 census, with Longford recording the biggest percentage increase at 14 per cent, followed by Meath at 12.9 per cent.

Here in Clare there are now 127,419 people, which represents a rise of 8,602 or 7% since 2016.

There were more women in the banner than men on April 3rd, with the county’s population made up of 64,733 females and 62,686 males.

This includes a natural increase of 3,122 – which refers to births minus deaths – and an estimated net inward migration of 5,480 – which is the population change minus natural increase.

The total housing stock in Clare in April this year was 58,148, an increase of 2,369, or 4% since the last census.

There were 5,369 vacant dwellings, 735 fewer than in 2016 or a drop of 12%.

This doesn’t include holiday homes though, of which there were 4,912.

The figures suggest that the provision of housing in this county hasn’t been keeping pace with population growth over the past six years.

This is contrast with counties like Kilkenny, Wicklow and Kildare where more housing stock came on stream over the same period than was needed, based on population change.