For context, this increase is higher than the national rate of eight per cent which saw the overall population of Ireland rise from 4,761,865 to 5,149,139. Wexford residents were also older than the national average with an average age of 40 compared to 38.8 nationwide.
In 2016 the average age in Wexford was 38.1 while nationally it was 37.4.
The number of people aged 65 and over continues to grow too. This age group increased by 25 per cent to 27,403 in Wexford, and by 22 per cent to 776,315 at a national level since 2016.
There were 32,482 children aged 15 and under in Wexford in April 2022
Of Wexford’s population, 83,142 were female and 80,777 were male, which means there were 97 males for every 100 females. In Ireland overall there were 2,604,590 females and 2,544,549 males or 98 males for every 100 females.
One area in which Wexford is lower than the national average is in the number of non-Irish citizens residing in the county as of April 2002. This cohort accounted for nine per cent of the county’s population in the Census compared to a figure of 12 per cent nationally.
We are also experiencing a decrease in our overall wellbeing with 83 per cent of people in Wexford stating their health was good or very good in 2022 compared to 87 per cent in 2016.
In better news the number of Irish speakers in Wexford has increased from 51,230 in 2016 to 55,198 last year. Within this figure 1,123 said they spoke Irish daily while 2,895 spoke Irish weekly. Nationally, 1,873,997 people said they were able to speak Irish, with 71,968 speaking Irish daily and 115,065 speaking it weekly.
In terms of employment there has been an increase of 20 per cent (11,726 people) in the number of those in full-time work in the past six years, a total of 69,485 people. Of those workers, 17,932 people worked from home at least one day a week in 2022. This represented 26 per cent of the workforce. The national figure was 32 per cent.
The number of people owning their own home in Wexford will be 70 per cent in 2022 with a further 24 per cent of people renting. Nationally the figures were 66 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.