New Census 2022 data reveals how Kilkenny has changed in recent years

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) this week published summary results from Census 2022, revealing some interesting changes in Kilkenny over the past five years.

Nationally, it is the first time in 171 years that Ireland’s population exceeded the five million threshold. Kilkenny was at the lower end of population changes, with a 5% increase compared to the State average of 8.1% since 2016. Longford was the highest (14%).

The counties with the lowest annual average net migration included Kilkenny and Tipperary, both at four people per 1,000.

The average age of Ireland’s population increased from 37.4 years in 2016 to 38.8 years in 2022. The average age in Kilkenny was 39.7.

The verage number of persons per private household by county was 2.87 in Kilkenny. There were interesting differences in people's marital status when examined county by county. Kilkenny showed 39.6% of people were single, while over 49% were married.

Across counties, there were differences in religion categories. Mayo had the highest proportion of Roman Catholics at 80% of the county’s population, while Kilkenny showed 77.1% and 11.1% put ‘no religion’.

Labour force participation among people aged 15 and over at a county level showed a rate of just over 60%. The unemployment rate in Kilkenny was 8% — slightly lower than most neighbouring counties.

Some 8.5% of people in Kilkenny said they could speak Irish ‘very well’.