Changing town populations in the Western Region in Census 2022

The Census of Population 2022 official town populations were published recently in Profile 1 -Population Distribution and Movements giving us important information on urban populations in the WDC’s Western Region.  Town population change was discussed briefly in our overview of key county data from Census 2022 for the Western Region and in this short report. I examine it in more detail in this blogpost.

A change in methods means that the 2022 town populations are not directly comparable with previous Census population data for towns.  The new method of defining urban areas (Built Up Urban Area (BUA)) has been introduced by the CSO to bring greater consistency in the definition of urban areas across the country.  There is more information about it here .

In this post I take a look at:

• Census 2022 Town populations (BUA)
• A comparison of Census 2016 and 2022 town populations using 2016 boundaries
• A comparison of the official BUA 2022 population with the 2022 population using the old (2016) boundaries.

The map below shows the towns under discussion.

Census 2022 Town Population (Built up Areas)

Census 2022 has shown that including Galway city (85,910 incl. suburbs) there are seven urban centres in the Western Region with a population of more than 10,000 (Table 1).  Ennis is the biggest town (27,923) and the 12th largest urban centre in the country.  Letterkenny and Sligo both have populations greater than 20,000 while Castlebar, Ballina and Shannon are considerably smaller.  Shannon (10,256) has just moved into this 10,000+category.

Table 1: Population of larger ‘Built Up Areas’ (BUA) in the Western Region

Source: Census of Population 2022 – Profile1 F1015

There are now 38 Western Region towns with population between 1,500 and 10,000 up from 34 in 2016 (Figure 2).  This is the size category of towns examined in our recently published Sustainable Mobility Index.  Towns in this category play a variety of roles in our region, some are key service and employment centres, others are more residential or dormitory towns serving larger towns and cities.

Eight of the towns in this category have a population greater than 5,000 with Tuam significantly larger than the others.

Table 2: Population of middle sized ‘Built Up Areas’ (BUA) in the Western Region

Source: Census of Population 2022 – Profile1 F1015

A further 30 towns (BUA) in the region now fall into the 1,500-5,000 size category (Table 3).  Six towns have entered this size category (Ballysadare, Oughterard, Portumna, Manorhamilton, Killaloe and Baile Chláir (Claregalway)) while Clifden (1,259) has fallen below 1,500.

Table 3: Population of larger ‘Built Up Areas’ (BUA) in the Western Region

Source: Census of Population 2022 – Profile1 F1015

Comparison of Census 2016 and 2022 town populations

As noted, the introduction of BUAs as the primary urban geography for Census 2022 means that a direct comparison with Census 2016 town data is not possible. However, in order to provide a guide to users, the CSO has made Census 2022 total population figures available for the Census 2016 town boundaries. These can be found in the Appendix Table 1 on this page.

It must be remembered that these are not the official population statistics but can be used to show intercensal population change.  Using the old boundaries to compare 2016 and 2022 populations (Table 4), three towns in the Western Region showed population decline (Ballyshannon (-1.5%); Lifford (-1.2%) and Clifden (-6.2%).  Five towns grew by more than 25% (Baile Chláir (i.e. Claregalway), 32.5%); Ballisodare (30.3%); Ballaghaderreen (29.4%); Maigh Cuilinn (i.e. Moycullen, 28.0%) and Bundoran (26.5%).

Table 4: Towns population change between 2016 and 2022 (old settlement boundaries))*

Source: Census of Population 2016, 2022

* The introduction of BUAs for Census 2022 means that no direct comparison with Census 2016 town data is possible, but the CSO has released Census 2022 population figures for the Census 2016 town boundaries.

**The spelling of Ballysadare (Ballisodare) varies in the CSO tables

Continuing to look at the 2016-2022 change, using old boundaries, of the larger towns (population 10,000+) Letterkenny grew most (12.4%) while both Castlebar and Ennis grew by 8.8%.  Galway city and suburbs grew by 7.4%, Shannon by 5.6% and Ballina had the lowest growth rate of these (2.4%). Galway, Letterkenny and Sligo have all been designated for significant growth under the National Planning Framework and the Northern and Western Regional Assembly Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES).

Under this Galway is targeted to have a population of more than 120,000 by 2040 (and 103,000 by 2026), while Sligo and Letterkenny are targeted to have a 40% increase (8,000 persons) in population by 2040, with the aim of having a 4,400 (minimum) increase by 2026 (Table 3, pg. 40).  Other key towns are all targeted to grow by 30% by 2040 in the Northern and Western Regional Assembly RSES (see Table 5).  Ennis, which is in the Southern Region is targeted for a 30% population increase by 2040 in the Southern Regional Assembly RSES.  The population targets for 2040 are shown in Table 5.

Table 5: Target populations for urban centres to 2040

Source: NWRA & SRA RSES; Census of Population 2022.

*See Table 4 above ** Ballinasloe population in 2022 affected by BUA boundary changes, see Table 6.

Comparison of the official BUA 2022 population with the 2022 population using 2016 boundaries

Comparing towns which had a BUA population of more than 1,500 in 2022, with the 2022 population data provided for the previous settlement boundaries (Table 6) indicates the significant differences arising from the boundary changes. Overall, for the 45 towns in the Western Region with a population (BUA, 2022) of more than 1,500, 23 show smaller populations under the BUA measure than the old boundary measure (I have included Clifden here as it had a population larger than 1,500 in 2016), and 23 show larger populations.

Table 6: Census 2022 De Facto (BUA) Population Compared to Town population in Census 2016*

*The spelling of Ballysadare (Ballisodare) varies in the CSO tables

Source: Census of Population 2022 – Profile1 F1015 and P-CPP1APPENDIXTBL1. Comparison of 2022 Population for towns using new official Built Up Area and old settlement boundaries For information only.  The 2022 population using old settlement definitions are not official statistics.

The largest positive population differences, using the BUA measure, are in Oughterard where the BUA population is almost 25% higher compared to the old boundaries and Bearna (BUA population larger by 16%).   No other town show more than 5% positive difference between BUA and old boundaries but there are some significant negative differences (i.e. population smaller under BUA than the old boundaries) especially in Ballinasloe (-11%), Claremorris (-10%) Gort (-9%), Kilrush (-10%) and Clifden (-16%).  Aside from these five, however, the rest showed less than 5% difference with 6 of these showing less than 2% difference and a further 10 showing a difference in population of less than 1% using the different boundaries.

An Bun Beag-Doirí Beaga (Bunbeg-Derrybeg) which would have been larger than 1,500 using the old boundary measures has been split into two separate towns under the BUA for Census 2022 (An Bun Beg (749) and Doirí Beaga (794)).     The old boundaries would have shown a population of 1,620 when they were combined.

Town population data is important to our understanding of growth patterns in the Western Region, and while none of us like breaks in time series data, the new BUA definition should make for more consistency across town (Built Up Area) populations in future.  It should also make analysis of data for smaller settlements (BUAs) easier in the future as the boundaries are defined.

As more Census 2022 data is published at town level, we will continue our analysis of the changing role of urban centres in the Western Region.

Helen McHenry

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of the WDC.