LIMERICK city has the highest rate of divorce and separation in the country while the lowest rate comes from County Limerick. Census figures just revealed confirm that while the city’s population has dropped since the last census, more people are making county Limerick their place of residence. In Limerick city, divorce is running at 2.34 per cent and separation at 3.39 per cent. The chances of remaining blissfully wedded in the county are much greater, with. Just 1.47 per cent its married population having gone separate ways.
The population of the city now stands at 57,106- down from a high of 59,790,, a drop of 4.5 per cent.
Conversely, the county’s population has increased from 124,265 to 134,703, a jump of 8.4 per cent.
Women outnumber men in the city, with the male population standing at 27,947 and the female population at 29,159.
In the county men outnumber women at 67,868 to 66,835.
The majority of people living in the city are aged between 20 and 64, with this section of the population accounting for 61.9 per cent of all city residents.
Of those who filled in census forms in the city, 24.9 per cent are 19 years of age or younger and 13.2 per cent are 65 or over.
In the county, 60.2 per cent are aged between 20 and 64 and 28 per cent of people are under 19 while 11.7 per cent of those living in rural areas of Limerick are 65 years old or more.
Catholics are still the largest religious grouping, with nine in 10 people in both city and county describing themselves as Catholic.
Numbers for those listing their religion as “other” and those who said they were of no religious persuasion were the same in the city and county at 5.7 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively.
In Limerick county, 1,121 people listed the Ethnic grouping as ‘Traveller” and 401 people in the city described themselves as members of the Travelling Community.
