Portlaoise in top 10 of Ireland's youngest towns

New Census statistics have shown that Portlaoise in Laois has made the top 10 in the list of youngest towns in Ireland, while apartment living in Laois is much less popular than it is nationally.

Portlaoise had a population of 23,494 in the Census of April 2022, with an average age of 35.1 years. 

It is one of 49 large towns in Ireland (population of over 10,000 people). It is one of ten with an average age of just under 36. Most are located in Dublin or surrounding counties.

The town is also now the 13th most populated town in Ireland, passing both Athlone and Mullingar in the Midlands. 

Elsewhere in Laois, Ballyroan takes the title of the youngest small town (pop +500) with an average age of 34.1 years.

The oldest is Stradbally, with an average age of 42.8 years. Nationally, the average age is 38.8 years.

Just over half of Laois residents were born in this county, at 54% (49,469 people). A further 30% (27,135) were born elsewhere in the State.  3,014 of those were born in Dublin.

The remaining 16% (14,744) were born outside the State, which was up from 14% in 2016. Nationally, 20% of the usually resident population in April 2022 was born outside of the Republic of Ireland.

Of the people who were resident in Laois, 3,728 had moved home in the year prior to Census 2022. Most of these (2,450 or 66%) moved elsewhere within the county.

Nationally, 265,098 usual residents moved in the year to April 2022. Of these, 71% moved to a new home in the same county.  

In Laois, 38% of households that moved owned their new home with a loan or mortgage while 12% owned it without a loan or mortgage. Nationally, 23% moved to a new home which they owned with a loan or mortgage, while 11% moved to a new home which they owned without a loan or mortgage.

Households that moved in Laois were more likely to move to a detached house (35%) than movers nationally (23%). Just 12% of Laois household movers moved to a flat or apartment, compared to 34% who did so nationally.

The facts are among the latest Census 2022 statistics released by the Central Statistics Office on June 29. More facts are to follow from the Census later in the year.

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Dr Tracy Clegg is Statistician in the Census Division. 

“Profile 1, which we are publishing today, provides a wealth of information on population changes in our counties, towns and cities since April 2016. It provides detailed data on the distribution of the population across our towns and cities and their age profiles, the place of birth of the usual residents of each county, and details of population movements into, within, and out of each county since 2016.

“Looking at Laois, we can see that Portlaoise was the largest town, with a population of 23,494 in April 2022.”