Potential loss of constituency seat in Dublin South Central
By Anne Stewart
The first summary report of Census 2011 was published on 29th March 2012, almost one year since Census Day 10th April 2011.
The report covers the overall population change by county in addition to examining age, marriage, household and families. Ireland’s population grew by 8.2% (348,404) since 2006, increasing the population to 4,588,252. The biggest increase was 9% in Leinster. All age groups increased except for those aged 15-29; this decrease was due to the decline in births in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
People are living longer with an 18% increase in the male population aged 65 and over; 12% increase in the female population aged 65 and over and 22% increase in the population aged 85 and over. The average age of the population continues to rise and was 36.1 in April 2011. The most gender balanced age group are from 35-39 and 55-59 where the ratio from men to women is equal.
Dublin city has one of the lowest dependency ratios at 38.4%. Dependency ratios are used to give an indication of an age structure of a population with young and old shown as a percentage of the population of working age (15-64). 27% of people aged 65 and over who lived in a private household, lived alone; of these, two-thirds were women.
The percentage of people who were married remains stable at 37%, although there are more people married now than in 2006. The number of widows is fewer reflecting a trend that men are living longer. The majority of marriages in Ireland are between people aged under 40 (93%). An interesting fact is 25.2% males and 23.4% females aged 40-49 living in urban areas are single. The number of divorced people has increased by 150.3% since 2002 to 87, 770.
The number of private households increased by 12.6% since 2006 and there is now an average of 2.73 persons in each household. 32% of occupied housing units in Dublin city were flats or apartments. In 2011, there were 1,179,210 families (couples with/without children; couples; single-parents with children) – 12% more than five years ago. The average number in each family is 1.38, down from 1.41 in 2006. Ireland remains a predominantly Catholic country.
According to the two new releases from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on April 26th last, Population Distribution and Movements and the Population by Area http://www.cso.ie/en/census/latestnews/Dublin’s population has increased from 1.18m to 1.27m, an increase of more than 83,000 (7%).
The population of Dublin South Central constituency is 127,223 with 62,319 females and 64,904 males – it is the second lowest populated constituency after Dublin North central.
The combined populations of the Dublin South-Central and Dublin South-East constituencies are equivalent to 7.9 Dáil seats based on the 2011 census figures.
The population of Dublin South-Central is too small for it to remain as a 5-seat constituency. It has a population per TD ratio that is 13.5% lower than the state average.
A second summary report will be issued in June, 2012 and will look at other social and economic factors such as employment, occupation, education and skills as well as health-related topics.
Photo credit: comedy_nose on Flickr.
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