Men outnumber women in Laois and almost a quarter now renting, Census shows

Men outnumber women in Laois where the population grew by 8% between 2016 and 2022 to 91,877, latest census figures reveal. 

The figures show there are 46,278 males to 45,599 females in the county, or 101 for every 100, in contrast with national picture which shows women outnumber men with 2,604,590 females to 2,544,549 males or 98 males for every 100 females. The 8% increase in population,  7,180 in Laois, is in line with the 8% rise nationally from 4,761,865 to 5,149,139. 

The latest release of 2022 census figures show the county population’s average age has increased to 37.3 up from 35.6 in 2016 but lower than the national average of 38.8 up from 37.4 in 2016. 

The number of people aged 65 and over continues to grow.  This age group increased by 25% to 11,978 in Laois, or 13% of the population, and by 22% to 776,315 at a national level since 2016. 

In 2022, 84% of people in Laois stated that their health was good or very good compared with 87% in 2016.  This is a similar trend to the national figures, which showed a 4% decrease in the good/very good categories, from 87% to 83%.  

The proportion of separated and divorced people in Laois rose slightly, at 7% of the population (aged 15 and over), compared to 6% in 2016.  The national comparison was 6% in both 2022 and 2016.

In 2022, in Laois 71% of households owned their own home, with a further 24% renting. This compared with 66% of households owning their home nationally and 28% renting.

There were 39,934 people  at work in Laois in 2022, an increase of 6,393 people (+19%) on 2016.  Nationally, there were 313,656 additional people (+16%) at work.

A total of 10,088 people (aged 15 and over) worked from home at least one day a week in 2022 in Laois.  This represented 25% of the workforce. The national figure was 32%.

A new question for Census 2022 related to childcare. There were 20,408 children aged 15 and under in Laois in April 2022. Of these, 6,977 (34%) were in childcare, compared with 33% nationally.

The number of dual Irish citizens in the county increased from 1,376 to 2,527 while non-Irish citizens accounted for 10% of the county’s population. Nationally, dual Irish citizenship increased by 63% from 104,784 to 170,597 people and non-Irish citizens made up 12% of the population.

The number of people (aged three and over) who stated that they could speak Irish in Laois was 33,538 compared with 32,485 in 2016.  Within this figure 678 said they spoke Irish daily while 1,933 spoke Irish weekly. Nationally, 1,873,997 people stated they were able to speak Irish, with 71,968 speaking Irish daily and 115,065 speaking it weekly.

Helicopters and drones to be used as fire risk rises

In line with the national figures, 19% of households wrote a message in the Time Capsule in Laois. 

Commenting on the results, Senior Statistician in the Census Division, Conor Halpin said: “Today’s Census 2022 results provide us with unique and valuable insights into the Ireland that we live in today.”