This publication is part of a series of results from Census 2022. More thematic publications will be published throughout 2023 as outlined in the Census 2022 Publication Schedule.
In 2022, there were just over 1.8 million households counted. Approximately 1.3 million of these (69%) contained families, 23% were one-person households and the remaining 8% were non-family households.
The average household size was 2.74, a slight decrease from 2.75 in 2016.
Average household size declined markedly since 1991 when it was 3.34.
The number of cohabiting couples without children living in private households increased by 17% (+11,516) whereas the number of married couples without children living in private households increased by only 8% (+19,673).
The amount of one-parent families went up by 3% between 2016 and 2022 (+4,475).
This growth was relatively more pronounced among one-parent father families (+8%, +2,081) than among one-parent mother families (+2%, +2,394).
Between 2016 and 2022, there was an increase in almost all family households living with other people, related or unrelated.
The number of cohabiting couples without children living with others increased by 39% (+2,692) in 2022, with the average size of these households rising to 3.49 from 3.45 in 2016.
Compared with 2016, the amount of married couples without children living with other people increased by 36% (+4,732) and the average size of these households rose from 3.31 in 2016 to 3.44 in 2022.
In 2022, there were nearly a third more one-parent families with children living with other people than in 2016. The average household size in this case increased to 3.82 from 3.71 in 2016.
In Census 2022, there were 425,974 people living alone. This was an increase of 7% (+26,159) since 2016 and accounted for 8% of all persons living in private households.
Just over half (52%) of all people living alone were female.
Of those living alone, 89% were Irish citizens and almost 39,000 (9%) stated they had non-Irish citizenship.
The highest number of people living alone was in Dublin City, 61,525 followed by County Cork with 49,705 people.
The proportion of people living alone increased consistently with age.
Over one-quarter of people aged 65 or over lived alone and this rose to 44% for people aged over 85 years.
There was a 15% reduction in the number of people under 45 years who were living alone (-14,905) while the number of persons in private households in this age group increased by 2%.
The majority of those living alone owned their home either with or without a mortgage or loan.
In 2022, 48% of all people living alone owned their home outright (204,515); 68% of these were aged 65 years and over.
Around 15% owned their home with a mortgage or loan (62,529), 9% fewer than in 2016.
Over 16% of people living alone were renting their accommodation from a private landlord (68,910) and another 13% from a local authority or voluntary body (54,844).
Of those living alone in all rental accommodation, 54% were aged 50 years and over (66,959 persons) and 10% were under 30 years of age (12,565).
There were just over 140,000 non-family households in 2022, 8% of all private households and a 31% increase since 2016.
Seven in 10 of these households were made up of unrelated persons.
The remainder were households composed of people who had a relationship other than that of a couple or parent and child.
Almost 60% of all non-family private households were two-person households (79,353) while 43% were households with three or more persons (60,910).
Households containing unrelated persons had a younger age profile than those containing relatives.
Looking at two-person non-family units, 57% of those in related households were 55 years and over compared with only 23% of those in unrelated households.
Among two-person non-family units in unrelated households, 28% were under 30 years of age.
The equivalent figure was only 12% for related households with non-family units in the same age group.
Principal Economic Status in the census measures whether people are at work, unemployed or not in the labour force. Therefore, it is recorded only for people aged 15 years and over.
Almost two-thirds of non-family households containing unrelated people only were headed by people at work (64%) while 12% were headed by students (11,306).
Among non-family households containing relatives, almost half (49%) were headed by people at work and 5% by students.
Non-family households containing relatives were much more likely to be headed by a retired person (27%) than households containing unrelated people (10%).
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