Number of catholics falling

In keeping with the national trend, the number of catholics in the county is on the decline.

The latest Census 2016 report from the Central Statistics Office shows Catholicism remains the predominant religion, accounting for 81.4% (53,327) of Sligo’s population in April 2016.

However, this was down from 56,038 persons five years previously. The average age of Catholics in the county was 39.7 years, slightly above the county’s overall average age of 39.2 years.

As with the State overall, the next largest group was those with no religion. In 2011, the 3,123 people with no religion comprised 4.8% of the county’s population. By 2016, this had increased to 5,285 people comprising 8.1% of the county’s population.

Their average age was 35.4 years, making them 3.8 years younger on average than the county’s population overall.

The 2,493 Church of Ireland members in the county made up 3.8% of its total population.

On average, Church of Ireland members in Sligo were 2.6 years older (41.8 years) than the overall population in the county.

Muslims (741) and Presbyterians (287) completed the top five.

In terms of ethnicity the report shows there are 384 Irish Travellers living in the county a fall of 34 (-8.1%) on the number in 2011 (418). They made up just over 1 in 200 (0.6%) of the county’s population, compared to 0.7 % at national level.

There were more female (201) than male (183) Travellers. Over half (56.8%) of all Travellers in the county were aged under 20, compared to 384 (0.6%) of the county’s overall population.

In April 2016, those who indicated a “White Irish” ethnic or cultural background amounted to 55,327 people (86.2% of the county’s population), a decline of 515 on 2011. The next largest grouping – “Any Other White background” accounted for 4,876 persons (7.6%), a decline of 127.

Those with “Black or Black Irish (African/any other Black background)” comprised 529 persons (0.8%) while 979 persons (1.5%) indicated an “Asian or Asian Irish (Chinese/any other Asian background)”.

A further 594 (0.9%) stated they were of “Other, including mixed background” while 1,468 (2.3%) did not state their ethnic/cultural background.