Census 2011 area overview of Roscommon

The picture painted of Roscommon from the recently published Census Area Profiles from 2011 is one of an ageing population. The statistics have shown that the number of older aged people living in Roscommon is higher, proportionately, than the state average. In all age categories from age 50 + the number of people living in Roscommon was greater, proportionately, than the national average. In April 2011 there were 9,396 persons aged 65 years and over living in Roscommon.

New area profiles have been published on the CSO website to ensure that census data is readily available to people about their local area. The focus is on information which is of broad interest to decision makers and the public.

Census figures for Roscommon were in line nationally in many areas. The average number of children per family was 1.4 compared with 1.4 nationally. The average number of persons per household was 2.7 compared with 2.7 nationally.

The population for the county was 64,065, 32,353 males and 31,712 females. The number of persons aged 18 years or over was 47,989. In the age categories from 15 up to 39 the number of persons living in Roscommon was lower than the national average. The population of pre-school age (0-4) was 4,642, of primary school going age (5-12) was 7,222 and of secondary school going age (13-18) was 4,901.

Two new questions were addressed in the 2011 census. The first was about what other languages are spoken in the home. The results in Roscommon showed Polish was the most common foreign language spoken in the home with 1,339 speakers.

The second was in relation to a person's overall health. Good health was reported by 55,495 persons in Roscommon, 86.6 per cent of total persons. This compares to 88.3 per cent of total persons nationally. 1,138 persons stated they were in bad or very bad health, representing 1.8 per cent of total persons in this area. Again this compares with 1.5 per cent of total persons nationally.

There were 8,759 persons recorded with a disablity in Roscommon in April 2011, of whom 3,597, representing 41.1 per cent of the total, were aged 65 years and over. 3,033 persons (1,231 males and 1,802 females) provided regular unpaid personal help for a friend or family member with a long-term illness, health problem or disability. 25.0 per cent of these provided care for more than 6 hours per day.

The most common marital status in Roscommon (age 15+) was married, 51 per cent, while 37 per cent were recorded as single. There were 23,672 private households in Roscommon in April 2011, 26.4 per cent of households were single person households. This was higher than the national figure of  23.7 per cent.

Couples with children in Roscommon made up 36.2 per cent of households, the most common household arrangement, this was slightly higher than the national figure of 34.9 per cent. Of the 16,739 families in the area, 5,049 were couples with no children.

The figures also showed that non-Irish nationals accounted for 10.8 per cent of the population of Roscommon compared with a national average figure of 12.0 per cent. UK nationals (2,790 persons) were the largest group, followed by Polish (1,365 persons).

80.6 per cent of those in the labour force, (24,390 persons), in Roscommon were working in April 2011. The unemployment rate for the area was 19.4 per cent compared with a national average rate of 19.0 per cent.

Of the 20,239 persons aged 15 years and over who were outside the labour force, 24.0 per cent were students, 25.6 per cent were looking after the home/family and 37.1 per cent were retired.

Of the 24,390 workers enumerated in Roscommon, 8,534 worked outside the area. The daytime working population (resident and non-resident) of Roscommon was 14,422 with professional services being the largest industry.

7,332 houses in the area were vacant, 289,451 houses were recorded as vacant nationwide. 14.5 per cent of these vacant houses in Roscommon were recorded as holiday homes while 20.5 per cent of the vacant houses nationally were recorded as holiday homes. 85.5 per cent in Roscommon selected 'other' as the reason for their vacant house while 79.5 per cent nationally selected this option.

Roscommon had not reached the same level of broadband connectivity as there was on a national level. 53.4 per cent of households had broadband connectivity compared with 63.8 per cent nationally.

The Area Profiles are available to view and download online on the CSO website at www.cso.ie.