Daingean the youngest town in Offaly while Shinrone the oldest

Daingean is the youngest town in Offaly, latest figures from Census 2022 reveal.

Of those towns with a population of at least 500 people in April 2022 in Offaly, Daingean was the youngest, with an average age of 35.5 years.

The oldest was Shinrone, with an average age of 43.7 years. Nationally, the average age was 38.8 years.

Tullamore was the largest town in Offaly with a population of 15,598 in April 2022.

The figures were released this week by the Central Statistics Office.

In April 2022, 49% of Offaly’s usual residents (40,155 people) were born in the county. A further 37% (30,601) were born elsewhere in the State.

The remaining 14% (11,881) were born outside the State, which was up from 12% in 2016. Nationally, 20% of the usually resident population in April 2022 was born outside of the State.

Of the people who were resident in Offaly, 3,375 had moved in the year prior to Census 2022. Most of these (2,114 or 63%) moved elsewhere within the county. Nationally, 265,098 usual residents moved in the year to April 2022. Of these, 71% moved to a new home in the same county.   

In Offaly, 32% of households that moved owned their new home with a loan or mortgage while 13% owned it without a loan or mortgage. Nationally 23% of households that moved owned their new home with a loan or mortgage while 11% owned their new home without a loan or mortgage.

Households that moved in Offaly were more likely to move to a detached house (38%) than movers nationally (23%). Just 13% of Offaly household movers moved to a flat or apartment, compared to 34% who did so nationally.

Commenting on the results, Dr Tracy Clegg, Statistician in the Census Division, said:  “Profile 1 provides a wealth of information on population changes in our counties, towns and cities since April 2016. It provides detailed data on the distribution of the population across our towns and cities and their age profiles, the place of birth of the usual residents of each county, and details of population movements into, within, and out of each county since 2016.