The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released the preliminary results from Census 2022, documenting a number of key changes in county Clare.

In Clare the preliminary figures show that the population on April 3 was recorded at 127,419, an increase of 8,602 (+7.2%) since 2016.

The population increase in Clare is largely in line with the national trend which showed a 7.6% increase in population from 4,761,865 to 5,123,536.

The population in Clare included 64,733 females and 62,686 males. This was made up of a natural increase (ie births minus deaths) of 3,122 and an estimated net inward migration (ie population change minus natural increase) of 5,480.

The total housing stock in Clare in April 2022 was 58,148, which represented an increase of 2,369 (4.2%) since 2016. The increase in housing stock in Clare is below the national average of 6%, which will not come as a surprise to those seeking to access a home.

The increase in housing stock is much higher in Leinster, in the counties surrounding Dublin like Meath, Kildare and Wicklow at 12.1%, 11.9% and 9.3%.

There were 5,369 vacant dwellings in county Clare, which was 735 fewer than in 2016 (-12.0%). This does not include holiday homes, of which there were 4,912 in Clare. The Census has not revealed as yet, whether there has been a net increase of holiday, or second, homes in the Banner County.

A dwelling is classed as vacant by census enumerators if it is unoccupied on Census night, is not used as a holiday home and is not usually inhabited by occupants who are temporarily absent at the time of census.