This publication is part of a series of results from Census 2022.
The 26th census since 1841 was carried out on the night of Sunday, 03 April 2022 in accordance with the Statistics (Census of Population) Order 2020 and in order to facilitate the EU requirements arising from the implementing legislation associated with Regulation (EC) No. 763/2008 on population and housing censuses.
The census population figures in this report relate to the de facto population meaning persons who were present in the State on the night of Sunday, 03 April 2022. The de facto population includes persons who do not usually live in Ireland but who were in the State on Census Night. It excludes persons who usually live in Ireland but who were temporarily absent, outside of the State, on Census Night. Persons who were present in the State were enumerated and are reported at the location where they spent Census Night. This may not have been the location where they usually live.
The 26th census was originally scheduled to take place on the night of Sunday, 08 April 2021. Following advice from the CSO, the government decided in September 2020 to postpone the census for approximately one year owing to the ongoing difficulties arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the purposes of census enumeration, the State was divided into 6 Census Liaison Areas, 46 Regions, 466 Field Districts and 5,100 Enumeration Areas. Census Enumerators were assigned to these Enumeration Areas and, during the five weeks before Census Night, delivered census questionnaires to all dwellings that were expected to be occupied on Sunday, 03 April 2022. Each address within an Enumeration Area was recorded as either occupied, unoccupied or not suitable for habitation.
The collection of completed questionnaires took place between Monday, 04 April and Friday, 06 May 2022.
The data in this report is based on the information handwritten on the census forms. After collection, the census forms were returned to CSO where they were scanned to capture and digitize the handwritten information. This digitized information was then processed to prepare it for publication.
The date of the census was chosen to coincide with a period when as many people as possible were at their home address and consequently the figures closely approximate the normally resident population.
The de facto measure of the population represents all persons who were present in the State on Census Night, irrespective of whether they were usually resident in the State at the time of the census.
The usually resident and present measure of the population refers to all persons who usually live in Ireland and who were present in the State on Census Night. It excludes persons who were not usually resident in the State on Census Night but who were present and persons who were usually resident in the State but were outside the State on Census Night.
The usually resident and present measure is used when analysing topics such as country of citizenship and households and families.
A family unit or nucleus is defined as: 1. two persons who are married or in a same-sex civil partnership or a cohabiting couple; or 2. two married persons or a co-habiting couple together with one or more usually resident never married children (of any age); or 3. one parent together with one or more usually resident never married children (of any age). Family members have to be usual residents of the relevant household. The determination of household and family composition is based on responses to Question 4 on the census form dealing with relationships within the household.
The census labour force participation rate is calculated as the proportion of persons aged 15 and over who are economically active (ie working, looking for their first regular job or unemployed) in the entire population over the age of 15.
The results of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) provide the basis for the official series of quarterly labour force estimates. The labour force and its constituent figures shown in this report are directly based on the census. Users should be aware that information derived from identical questions in the census and LFS for the same year may show appreciable differences. The main categories affected are the constituents of the question on principal economic status and the employment estimates classified by industry and occupation.
The main reasons for the differences are:
• The LFS uses the International Labour Organisation (ILO) classification, which has a much wider range of questions on the labour force and which may have a bearing on the responses received to individual questions. Under the ILO criteria, employment, unemployment and inactive population are defined as follows:
i. In employment: Persons who worked in the week before the survey for one hour or more for payment or profit, including work on the family farm or business and all persons who had a job but were not at work because of illness, holidays etc in the week.
ii. Unemployed: Persons who, in the week before the survey, were without work and available for work within the next two weeks, and had taken specific steps, in the preceding four weeks, to find work.
iii. Inactive population (not in labour force): All other persons.
• The census form is completed by a responsible adult in each household throughout the State in respect of everyone present in the household on Census Night while the LFS is collected by in person and telephone-based survey interviews
• The census relates to all persons present in the State (including visitors from abroad) at the time of the census while the LFS covers persons usually resident in Ireland
• The census is a complete enumeration while the LFS is a sample survey. The chief difference resulting from this is that the census records an unemployment rate (based on Principal Economic Status) of 8 per cent, compared with the official rate (based on ILO criteria) of 4.6 per cent for Quarter 1 of 2022. Notwithstanding these differences, the main strength of the census-based data on employment and unemployment is the provision of data for small geographic areas, analysis on the comparisons between areas, the provision of data on unemployment blackspots, and other analysis across multiple variables such as marital status, detailed country of citizenship, etc.
The term industry used for Census of Population purposes is not confined to manufacturing industry. It is synonymous with the term 'sector of economic activity'. The basis of the industrial classification is, in the case of employees, the business or profession of their employer and in the case of self-employed persons, the nature of their own business or profession.
In Census 2022, industry is coded using NACE – the General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities within the European Communities. The current version, NACE Rev. 2, is a 4-digit activity classification that was first used in Census 2011 and is a revision of the version originally published by Eurostat in 1970. The previous version, NACE Rev. 1, was in use in the censuses of 2002 and 2006.
NACE Rev. 2 is a hierarchical classification, with 88 Divisions at 2-digit level, 272 Groups at 3-digit level and 615 Classes at 4-digit level. The NACE Rev.2 classification is shown below while a breakdown of the NACE Rev. 1 classification is available on the CSO website.
The industry in which a person is engaged is determined (regardless of their occupation) by the main economic activity carried out in the local unit in which he or she works. If, however, the local unit provides an ancillary service to another unit in the business (eg administration, storage, etc) then the persons in the ancillary unit are classified to the industry of the unit it services. Thus, while the occupational classification is concerned only with the particular work performed by an individual regardless of the activity carried on at the local unit, the industrial classification is concerned only with the ultimate purpose of the unit or end product regardless of the precise nature of the work performed by each individual.
A manufacturing or commercial unit may employ persons with many different occupations for the purpose of making a particular product or for giving a particular service. Conversely, there are cases in which particular occupations are largely confined to a single industry. For example, the majority of persons with agricultural occupations are in the agriculture industry and most miners are in the mining industry.
Data on disability was derived from answers to Questions 15 and 16 of the census questionnaire. Question 15 was a seven-part question that asked about the existence of the following long lasting conditions: (a) blindness or a vision impairment, (b) deafness or a hearing impairment, (c) a difficulty with basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying, (d) an intellectual disability, (e) a difficulty with learning, remembering or concentrating, (f) a psychological or emotional condition or a mental health issue and (g) a difficulty with pain, breathing or any other chronic illness or condition. Respondents had the option to indicate that they did not have any of these long-lasting conditions, had one or more of them to some extent, or had one or more of them to a great extent.
Question 16 was a four-part question that asked whether an individual had a difficulty doing any of the following activities: (a) dressing, bathing or getting around inside the home (self-care disability), (b) going outside the home alone to shop or visit a doctor’s surgery (going outside the home disability), (c) working at a job or business or attending school or college (employment disability) and (d) participating in other activities, such as leisure or using transport. As with Question 15, respondents could indicate that they had no difficulty with any of these activities, that they had some difficulty or that they had a lot of difficulty.
Compared with the questions used in Census 2016, there was no filter between the two questions, meaning all persons were expected to answer Question 16 irrespective of how they responded to Question 15. Furthermore, following consultation with key stakeholders, it was decided to explicitly require difficulties caused by old age as part of Question 16 on day to day difficulties.
Persons who ticked at least one of the boxes for 'Yes, to some extent' in Q15 or 'Yes, a little' in Q16 but did not tick any of the 'Yes to a great extent' in Q15 or 'Yes, a lot' in Q16 were used as part of the calculation of the 'disability to some extent' rate. Persons who ticked at least one of the 'Yes, to a great extent' boxes in Q15 or 'Yes, a lot' boxes in Q16 were used as part of the calculation of the 'disability to a great extent' rate. Persons who ticked any of the 'Yes' boxes in Q15 or Q16 were included in the 'disability to any extent' rate.
For the first time since 2006, a question was asked in the 2022 census on participation in voluntary activities amongst the population. The question asked in 2022 was different than the one on the Census 2006 form.
In particular, the question in 2006 was restricted to people aged 15 years and over and was looking to capture volunteering activities carried out during the four weeks prior to Census Night.
In addition, the wording of the volunteer categories also changed which means Census 2022 results have limited comparability with the 2006 data. The categories that can be compared are as follows:
Social or charitable organisations.
Religious group or church.
Sporting organisations.
Political organisations (Note: In 2006, this category included political or cultural organisation, whereas in 2022, the category was solely 'a political organisation').
In 2006, a category of 'Any other voluntary activity' was included on the form. This was removed in 2022 and replaced with the category 'In your community'.
Census 2006 Question 25
Census 2022 Question 24
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