Non-Irish are 12 per cent of population

Almost 12 per cent of the population of Westmeath are non-Irish citizens, and one in every five residents in Athlone are holders of non-Irish citizenship.

Nearby, Ballymahon (33 per cent) and Edgeworthstown (31 per cent) were two of the three towns nationally with the largest proportions of non-Irish citizens; the top spot is held by Ballyhaunis, where the population is 37 per cent non-Irish.

While the number of immigrants from Ukraine has risen since the Census was taken, there were 18,566 people present in the state on Census night who indicated that their country of citizenship was Ukraine.

The number of Ukrainians in Westmeath on Census night was 231, representing 0.2 percent of the population.

The CSO stated: “Many of these people indicated that their country of usual residence was not Ireland, so they are not included in the main figures on country of citizenship, which are based on people who were usually resident in Ireland at the time of the census.”

Within Westmeath, the largest group were Polish citizens (1,832 people), followed by UK citizens (1,357), Indian (1,034) and Lithuanian (1,005). Nationally there were more than 631,000 non-Irish citizens, 12% of the population.

In Westmeath, the number of dual-Irish citizens – which is when you are a citizen of two countries at the same time – increased from 1,826 in 2016 to 3,180 in 2022.

The largest dual-Irish citizenships group included Irish-UK (527 people), Irish-US (521) and Irish-Polish (332).

There were more than 170,500 dual-Irish residents in Ireland in Census 2022.

Immigration

There were 3,028 people living in Westmeath in April 2022 who had moved to the county in the year before the census. That included 1,748 people who had moved from elsewhere within Ireland, and 1,280 people from outside the state. A further 2,684 people had moved within the county in the year before the census.

Ethnic group/background

More than 73,800 people living in Westmeath in April 2022 had a ‘White Irish’ ethnic group or background. A further 8,398 people identified as ‘Any other White’. There were 1,976 people whose ethnic group/background was Asian or Asian Irish – Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi and 1,425 people with a Black or Black Irish – African ethnic group/background.

Irish Travellers

There were 974 Travellers in Westmeath in Census 2022, compared with 1,002 in 2016 (-3%). That figure included 496 females and 478 males. There were 32,949 Travellers in Ireland, compared with 30,987 in 2016 (+6%). That included 16,777 females and 16,172 males.

Religion

In Census 2022, almost 70,600 people in the county were Catholic (73%). That was down from 83% in Census 2016. Nationally, 69% stated they were Catholic, compared to 78% in 2016. The other most common religions in Westmeath included Church of Ireland (2,019 people), Orthodox (1,706) and Islam (1,645). There were more than 10,200 people who stated they did not have a religion, which was up from almost 5,600 in Census 2016. They made up 11% of the county’s population, compared with 6% in 2016.