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In 1911, the concentration of one-room tenements per 100 houses inhabited varied across urban districts in Ireland with the main ones being Dublin City (60), Limerick City (17), Cork City (13), Waterford City (8), Galway (8), and Belfast City (1) (See Table 1.1).
Dublin City had the highest concentration of one-room tenements of all urban and rural districts in Ireland at the time at 60 per 100 inhabited houses (See Map 1.2, Table 1.2).
The concentration of one-room tenements per 100 inhabited houses in Belfast City (1) contrasted greatly with Dublin City (60), although both urban districts had a population of more than 300,000 people.
One-room tenements were also found in rural districts, mostly situated close to the Atlantic coast. Belmullet rural district in Mayo had 14 one-room tenements per 100 houses inhabited.
Records show one-room tenements with at least 12 people or more living in one room in both urban and rural areas. Dublin had five one-room tenements with at least 12 people living there, while Mayo had six one-room tenements housing at least 12 people.
Today’s release is part of the CSO’s Historical Statistics Recovery (HSR) initiative which began in 2022 and aims to recover and make high value statistics contained in Irish historical statistical publications accessible to all.
This initiative is driven by volunteers within the CSO who are committed to ensuring this valuable information will be made available to all over time. Making the data available online allows historical statistics to be preserved in an electronic format, making it easier for anyone to access the information, as well as aiding the discovery of new insights into our past.
The Census of Ireland, 1911 is the first release in this initiative where a selection of tables have been digitised and are available to the public.
This release marks the publication of the third release in our series, Stories from Census, 1911. The release is based on data from Table X and Table VI in The Census of Ireland, 1911, to explore the location of one-room tenements and the number of people living in them, down to District Electoral Division (DED) level. The concentration of one-room tenements per 100 houses inhabited was included along with the percentage of the population living in them.
More information on how statistics were calculated can be found in the Background Notes.
The interactive online statistical tables can be accessed on PxStat and provide an opportunity for users to explore and create their own stories from Census 1911.
Detailed geographical level data from the digitised tables can also be explored using interactive maps developed by the CSO.
Previous releases in this series were published in April 2023 and March 2024. These releases looked at valuation and population statistics as well as literacy rates in the Census of Ireland, 1911 and provide insights into how people lived in Ireland during that time.
The original Census reports from 1911 have been scanned and are available to download. The DED boundary data used for this release is also available to be consumed as a service. Original Census return forms can be located by searching the National Archives website.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (03 July 2025) published Stories from Census 1911: Tenement Living.
Commenting on the release, Ciara Hayes, CSO Statistician, said: “While a lot has been documented about tenement living in Ireland, this release quantifies and brings back to life the statistics from the paper reports of 1911. This release is based on Table X and Table VI from The Census of Ireland, 1911, and both tables are available on the CSO’s open data portal, data.cso.ie, known as PxStat. Digital maps developed by the CSO provide detailed geographical breakdowns of tenement living in Ireland.
When referring to tenements and dwellings, the General Report from Census 1911, notes ”every dwelling which has a distinct outer door shall be considered as One House, although it may be occupied by several families living in separate apartments, or what are known as tenements, under the same roof”. A tenement was essentially a single room that housed a family, or a number of people. As part of this research, we found a number of instances where at least 12 people were officially recorded as living in a single room.
This release offers data at the urban district, rural district, and District Electoral Division (DED) levels. DEDs are smaller administrative units nested within the broader urban and rural districts. More information on these geographical divisions can be found in the Background Notes.
Although one-room tenements were typically concentrated in urban areas, the data shows us that one-room tenement living also existed in rural areas, most commonly in rural districts close to the Atlantic coast.
Dublin City and Belfast City
Looking at urban districts, both Dublin (305,000 people) and Belfast City (387,000 people) had large populations, however, it is interesting to note that 23% of the population of Dublin City lived in one-room tenements, while Belfast had less than 1% of its population living in such dwellings. Such contrasting living conditions would suggest the housing and economic landscape of Belfast was very different compared with Dublin and the rest of Ireland, most likely due to its booming economy, particularly driven by the thriving linen mills and ship building industry. The RMS Titanic was constructed by the Harland and Wolff shipping company in Belfast during this period, and the city was the fastest growing urban area in the United Kingdom and Ireland at that time, according to the National Archives.
Looking at Census 1911 forms, in Dublin City, there were 73,175 persons occupied in the ‘Industrial Class’, compared with 129,371 in Belfast City. These occupations consisted of those working on ships, machines, and textile fabrics. Looking at the textile industry alone, we can see there were 36,897 persons working in textile fabrics in Belfast, compared with 3,146 in Dublin City.
Household Comparison
Our Chapter on Tenement Living also looks at the story behind two different households in 1911, one from a rural setting and another from an urban setting. We focus on the Lavelle household from Belmullet DED in Belmullet rural district, Co Mayo, and the Hanlon household from the Rotunda DED in Dublin City urban district. We get an insight into how life compared in rural and urban areas in Ireland, with both families having more than 11 people living in their respective one-room tenements in 1911.
In the rural setting of Co. Mayo, the 12-person household of the Lavelles, a married couple and their 10 children, spoke only Irish and the eldest son worked as a farmer. No child under seven could read, and the roof of their one-room home was constructed in ‘thatch, wood or other perishable material’.
Looking at the Hanlon household in Dublin City, the household of a married couple and nine children spoke only English, and the older children worked either as van drivers or in the factories. All children under 12 were described as ‘scholars’ but could not read or write. The roof of their one-roomed dwelling was made of 'Slate, Iron or Tiles'."