Irish Examiner view: A picture of the challenges we are facing
Properties Fell Four The Point Owner 70% To 66% Percentage Occupied From Of
For an event which largely figures in the popular imagination as the backdrop to the story of the Nativity, or perhaps through a throwaway line in The Silence of the Lambs, the census certainly repays one’s attention.
Theinformation released yesterday from the 2022 census is a case in point — we have learned, for instance, that the reference to the Nativity above may not be recognisable to as many people as before, given the proportion of people identifying as Roman Catholic has dropped from 79% in the 2011 census to 69%.
But the census doesn’t just tell us about the country as it is. The information it yields also gives us plenty of pointers on where Ireland is going.
Drilling deeper into the new figures shows us that the population is ageing — the average age of 36.1 years noted in 2011 has increased by over two-and-a-half years in just over a decade, to 38.8 years.
This has obvious implications for the country as a whole if the trend continues: It means governments must plan for an older population into the future. That trend has implications across a whole range of areas, from healthcare to housing, from pensions to taxation; all of these sectors must be examined with a view to their impact on an older population, and an older population’s influence on them.
For instance, when we read that the percentage of the population which enjoys good health has dropped from 87% to 83%, are we seeing the effects of an ageing population in real time?
Immediate challenges are also articulated in the census data. Take the turmoil in the housing sector, shown in stark statistics: The number of households renting accommodation from a private landlord has risen by 7%, while the the number of owner-occupied dwellings has fallen by four percentage points, from 70% to 66%.
Here is another trend with the potential to challenge future administrations. More to the point, it continues to challenge the current Government. Thanks to the census, we know precisely the size of the challenge that needs be overcome.