Population to top 100k by 2016

According to population experts, the number of people living in Westmeath will hit the 100,000 thousand mark for the first time since the 1850s by 2016.Census figures published earlier this year revealed that the population of Westmeath on the night of April 10 was 85,961, the highest it has been for 140 years, and an increase of 6,615 in five years.However, if the experts have got their figures right, the local population is due to increase by almost 15,000 between now and the next census.This 15,000 increase would be the biggest population inter-census spike since records began.While you might expect that the expected population boom is just what the local construction industry and property market needs, according to council planners, with almost 5,000 houses vacant at present, and an average dwelling capacity of 2.7 people per house, the current housing stock could already facilitate a population of 99,400.Census figures have also revealed that the number of new people moving to Westmeath has more than halved over the last five years .According to census figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the number of people that migrated to Westmeath between 2006 and 2011 was 1995, almost 3,000 fewer than 4,861 people that made the county their new home between 2001 and 2006.However, while the number of new arrivals from outside the county may have fallen sharply in recent years, the number of new arrivals from Mother Nature rose significantly in the same period.According to the CS0, the natural increase in persons (ie the number of Westmeath babies born) between 2006 and 2011 was 4620, almost 2000 more than the 2684 births recorded between 2001-2006.