Westmeath population increases by 2.6%

Westmeath’s population has increased by 2.6% since 2011, preliminary Census results from the CSO have revealed.
And while Roscommon’s population also increased in the five years, it was just by 0.6%.
Westmeath’s population was recorded as 88,396, increasing by 2,232 since 2011 while Roscommon’s population stands at 64,436, an increase of just 371 since 2011.
In Westmeath there are slightly less males than females, with 986 males to 1,000 females, while in Roscommon males outnumber females, with 1,006 males to 1,000 females.
Nationally, the country’s population has increased by 3.7% or 169,724 people, with the population now standing at 4.7m.
The Census also revealed that there are 4,334 vacant dwellings in Westmeath, a vacancy rate of 11.6%, which is just below the national vacancy rate of 12.8%.
In Roscommon, however, things are slightly worse with the figures showing a total of 6,822 vacant dwellings - a vacancy rate of 21.6%.
Brendan Murphy, Statistician at the Central Statistics Office (CSO), explained that “The preliminary count is based on a clerical summary of each enumeration area compiled by the 4,663 enumerators.
“These counts have been returned to the CSO in advance of the census forms and the results published today are based on this information. The enumerators did an excellent job getting their summaries back to us, which allows us to prepare these early results of the census. We’d like to thank the entire census field staff for all their hard work and perseverance over the course of the census field campaign.”
“We like to publish these preliminary figures while the thought of completing the census form is fresh in people’s minds. Additionally this data is available to immediately assist with public planning,” he said.