The Census Has Revealed That The Irish Population Is Getting Older

The average age of an Irish person in April 2016 was recorded as 37.4 years which is up from 36.1 in 2011.

The full report on the census we all completed last year has been revealed today.

It found that the number of males aged 65 and over increased by 22% to 296,837 while females aged 65 and over increased by 16.7% to 340,730.

Other key findings listed in the report which was released by the Central Statistics Office were:

- The average number of children per family, at 1.38, was unchanged from 2011

- 218,817 families were headed by one parent, with the vast majority (86.4%) being mothers

- For the first time, the census recorded the number of same-sex couples there are in Ireland. It found that there are a total of of 6,034 same sex couples, of whom 3,442 were male couples and 2,592 were female.

-The number of people identifying themselves as having no religion increased from 269,800 to 468,400, an increase of 73.6%, and comprised 9.8% of the population.

-The number of households renting on census night 2016 amounted to 497,111, an increase of 22,323 on the 2011 figure.

- The number of Irish residents born outside Ireland stood at 810,406 in 2016 a rise of 43,636 on the 2011 figure.

Today's findings are the first in a series of results expected to be released as Deirdre Cullen, Senior Statistician, explained:

“Today’s publication is the first of a series of 13 reports on Census 2016 that are due to be published this year.

"As well as the two summary reports, the CSO will publish 11 thematic profile releases, each of which will explore separate topics such as housing, the homeless, religion, disability and carers in greater detail.

"Together, these will provide a comprehensive demographic and socio-economic profile of Ireland in April 2016.