The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (19 December 2023) released Census 2022 Profile 8 – The Irish Language and Education. This press release highlights some of the main results for Mayo. A full list of county press releases is available.
| Kathleen Goulding | (+353) 1 895 1413 |
|---|---|
| Tony Downes | (+353) 1 895 1319 |
| censuspublicity@cso.ie | |
| pressoffice@cso.ie |
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Statistician's Comment
Commenting on the results, Deirdre Lynch, Statistician in the Census Division, said: “Profile 8 looks at two distinct aspects of the Census 2022 results, the Irish language and the education of the population in detail. The report includes details on how many of us speak Irish, how often we do so, and to what level it is spoken. The topic of Education provides insights into the levels of qualifications achieved in the population, the age full-time education is ceased, early school leavers by age and sex, as well as the relationships between level of education and employment and economic status.”
Some highlights for Mayo
Irish speakers in Gaeltacht areas
The population of the Gaeltacht in Mayo living within the Mayo county boundary increased from almost 10,400 to 10,515. This was an increase of 129 people (1%, the lowest rate of increase in Gaeltacht areas). This included 10,196 people aged three and over and of these 5,956 could speak Irish.
The number of people who could speak Irish in the Mayo Gaeltacht fell by 3% between the censuses in 2016 and 2022. The number of people speaking Irish daily within and outside the education system increased slightly from 155 to 172. There were 555 people who spoke Irish daily (outside the education system only) which was down from 740 in 2016. The number of people who spoke Irish weekly (outside the education system only) fell to 670 from 714.
The Irish language question was expanded in Census 2022 to ask those who spoke Irish how well they spoke it. There were 1,232 people who spoke Irish very well while 2,286 spoke it well and 2,299 did not speak it well.
Irish Speakers Overall
The number of people (aged three and over) who could speak Irish in Mayo increased by just over 1,200 to 56,346 in Census 2022. This was 44.3% of the county’s population aged three and over, compared with 44.7% in Census 2016. Nationally, almost 1.9 million people could speak Irish, or 40% of all people aged three and over. This was up by more than 112,500 people since 2016 (+6%). There were more female than male Irish speakers in the county, with 49% of females able to speak Irish compared with 40% of males. Females nationally were also more likely to be able to speak Irish than males, accounting for 55% of all Irish speakers.
Where People Spoke Irish
The number of people speaking Irish daily (within the education system only) fell slightly, from 16,058 in Census 2016 to 15,009 in Census 2022. There were 1,544 people speaking Irish daily (outside the education system only) compared with 1,781 people in 2016. The 3,631 people speaking Irish weekly (outside the education system only) was a slight decrease on the 3,673 people who did so in 2016.
Fluency in Speaking Irish
In Mayo, 5,206 people who could speak Irish spoke it very well (9%), while 18,344 could speak it well (33%), and 31,051 people did not speak it well (55%). In Ireland overall, 10% of Irish speakers could speak the language very well with 32% speaking it well and 55% not speaking it well.
Level of Education
The number of people with a third level qualification in the county rose from almost 29,300 in 2016 to just over 37,000 in 2022. This was 39% of the population aged 15 and over in Census 2022, up from 33% in 2016. Mayo’s percentage of people with a third level qualification was below the national rate of 45%. There were 577 people in the county who held a PhD, which was 2% of all PhD holders in the country.
Slightly more than 27,200 people, or 29% of all those aged 15 and over, had completed their full-time education at upper secondary level. This was up from just over 26,400 people in 2016. Nationally, almost 867,400 people had completed their education at upper secondary level (26%).
Just over 13,300 people in the county in Census 2022 (14% of all those aged 15 and over) had completed their education at lower secondary level, compared with almost 13,800 people in Census 2016 who indicated they had done so. More than 446,000 people nationally had completed their education at lower secondary level (13%).
Just over 12,200 people aged 15 and over had completed their education at primary level or had no formal education (13%). This was down from almost 14,700 people in 2016. Nationally, nearly 332,500 people had completed their education at primary level or had no formal education (10%).
Age Completing Education
The average age at which people completed their full-time education increased in all counties between Census 2016 and Census 2022. In Mayo the average age rose from 19.4 years to 20.4 years. Nationally the average age went from 19.9 years to 20.8 years.