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The census is a count, and account, of everybody who usually lives in Ireland. Census results are used in the planning of healthcare, education, transport and housing services at community, county, and national level.
Ireland’s next census will be held in April/May 2027. This will be the first census in Ireland where the public will have the option to complete their census form online. A paper census form will also be available.
The census will move from a ‘de facto’ census, which means counting everyone where they are staying on one specific night, to counting the usually resident population. This means that there will no longer be one census night when everyone completes or is included in a form where they are staying that night. Instead, people who usually live in Ireland (their “usual residence”) will complete the census during the five weeks leading up to census date.
"Usual residence" refers to the place where a person normally lives and spends the majority of their time. It is typically the address where they sleep most nights. This definition helps to more accurately reflect the true population distribution across the country.
The online census form will be available to complete on the dedicated census website. Paper forms will be available on request through the census call centre/webform. Census Field Support staff will call to homes throughout the country to offer help and assistance. There will be a longer period of time to complete and submit/return the census form, which will be five weeks before census date. The form should be completed before this date, which will be determined by Government later this year. This is different to how censuses operated in Ireland in the past when everyone in the country was counted on Census Night in the location they were at on that night. For Census 2027, the public will complete their forms for their usual residence. This allows the flexibility to complete the forms anytime in the five weeks leading up to census date if you are a ‘usual resident’ in the country.
An information letter will be sent to every home (expected to be in March/April 2027) giving details on how to complete the census. A nationwide publicity campaign will take place at the same time. While census field support officers (previously known as enumerators) will no longer call to deliver and collect census forms, they will call to offer help. They can also request a paper form on the doorstep on the householder’s behalf, if the householder wishes to complete the paper version. The form will be posted to the householder with a return postage paid envelope included. The completed form should be posted back to the Census HQ by the householder. A call centre will be available also to deal with any queries that the public might have.
Census 2027 will include new questions, as well as changes to some previous questions. The content for the census form including new questions and changes is currently being finalised. This process included a public consultation, agreement on inclusion of new content by the specially convened Census Advisory Group (CAG) based on the submissions, the testing of the new/changed questions in the Census Pilot Survey in September 2024, and subsequent analysis of the responses to the Pilot Survey. The final agreed content will be submitted to Government for approval in mid to late 2025.
For Census 2027, we will recruit a temporary field force of over 4,000 people at local and regional level to help us carry out the census. The recruitments will begin in April 2026 and there will be three separate competitions during that year. In April, we will recruit six Census Liaison Officers and 46 Census Regional Supervisors. In September 2026 we will recruit 466 Census Field Supervisors. In November-December 2026 we will recruit 3,880 Census Field Support Officers. You can find out about, and apply for, the different jobs on the dedicated census website and the CSO website next year.
The census is organised by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Yes. Everyone who usually lives in Ireland must be included. This is the law [Statistics Act 1993, Statistics (Census of Population) Order]. The resulting statistics and census information are used to plan and provide public services in communities, towns, villages, and counties across the country. The results are freely available to everyone.