Population growing and getting older

The population of Westmeath is not only growing, it is growing older. The number of over 65s has increased by more than 25 per cent since 2016, newly published Census figures have revealed.

According to the data from the CSO, out of Westmeath’s overall population of 96,221, there were 14,389 people over the age of 65 living in the county on Census night (April 3) last year, a massive 26 per cent increase since the last Census in 2016.

Nationally, the number of over 65s rose by 22 per cent to 776,315.

The average age of the local population has also increased over the same period, from 36.8 years in 2016 to 38.6 last year, slightly below the national average age of 38.8.

People are living longer, but the number in Westmeath who described their health as good or very good has fallen from 87 per cent in 2016 to 82 per cent last year.

In addition to the large rise in the number of older people in the county since 2016, there has also been a major increase in the number of local people working. On Census night, there were 42,077 people over the age of 15 at work, an increase of 6,788 (19%) between 2016 and 2022.

Of the overall workforce, 26 per cent (11.096) work from home at least one day a week.

When it comes to home ownership, 68 per cent of Westmeath households owned their own homes (down from 69.2 per cent in 2016), and a further 26% rent. That compares with 66% of households nationally who own their homes and 28% who rent.

The number of dual Irish citizens in Westmeath has increased by more than 74 per cent, from 1,826 in 2016 to 3,180 in 2022, while non-Irish citizens make up 11 per cent of the population.

At a national level, dual Irish citizenship increased by 63% from 104,784 to 170,597 people, and non-Irish citizens make up 12% of the population.

The number of non-Irish citizens in Westmeath is rising, and so too are the number of Irish speakers. The number of local people (aged three and over) who stated that they could speak Irish is 33,598 compared with 32,209 in 2016. Within that figure, 632 said that they speak Irish daily while 1,786 say they speak Irish weekly.

One of the new questions in last year’s Census related to childcare. It found that just under a third (6,343 or 32%) of Westmeath’s 19,779 children under the age of 15 are in childcare, slightly lower than the national average of 33 per cent.

The Westmeath population on Census night last year – 96,221 – is the highest it has been since the 1851 Census. It grew by eight per cent (7,451) between April 2016 and April 2022.

Of the 96,221, 52 per cent (48,500) were female and 48 per cent (47,721) male, which means 98 males for every 100 females.

Nationally, the population exceeded the five million threshold for the first time since 1851. There were 5,149,139 people in the state on April 3 last, an eight per cent increase since April 2016.