Gaybrook is most affluent area in Westmeath – Pobal

People living in Gaybrook are the most well off in the county, according to new data.

Pobal’s latest deprivation index used data from last year’s Census to reveal Ireland’s most affluent and deprived areas. It uses a variety of indicators including unemployment levels, educational attainment and lone parent ratio.

Gaybrook is the only electoral division in the county to be designated as “affluent”. It has a male unemployment rate of only 2.75% and female unemployment rate of 3.41%, while 37.89 of residents have a third level education.

While most electoral divisions in Westmeath were designated as being “marginally above average” or “marginally below average”, the compilers of the index identified three electoral divisions in the county (Mullingar Urban North, Kilbixy, Streete) as being “disadvantaged”.

Mullingar Urban North is the most deprived electoral division in the county with a male unemployment rate of 35.39% and a female unemployment rate of 31.84. It also has the highest percentage of lone parents (32.70%).

Streete electoral division has the highest age dependency ration in the county (40.89%). The age dependency ratio is an age:population ratio of those people in a community who are either too young or too old to work compared to those of working age. It also had a male unemployment rate of 28.57% and a female rate of 17.65%.

Ballynacargy, the third electoral division designated as “deprived”, had the highest percentage of residents (25.4%) living in rented local authority accommodation. It also had significantly higher than average unemployment rates for both men (26.09%) and women (20.05%).

Nationally, John’s A electoral division in Limerick city is the most disadvantaged in the state. It has a male unemployment rate of 69.4% and a female unemployment rate of 40.4%. 

The Mansion House B electoral division on Dublin’s south side is Ireland’s most affluent.