Only 32% of Meath residents were born in the Royal County according to Census

Census 2022 statistics have revealed that just 32% of Meath residents were born in the Royal County.

While Navan was found to be the fourth largest town in the country with a population of 33,886.

Of the almost 5.1 million people who were here on the night of 3 April 2022, one in five were born outside the State.

Almost three quarters of those born here still reside in the county of their birth. People under-15 or over-65 are most likely to live in the county of their birth,

The figure is highest for Cork, where 72% of all residents have spent their lives inside the county boundary.

In contrast, just 32% of Meath residents were born in the county, while Dublin has the highest percentage of residents (25%) born in another county.

For census purposes, a person's place of birth is recorded as the place where their mother lived at the time of their birth.

The top five largest towns in the State in 2022 were all in Leinster: Drogheda, Dundalk, Swords, Navan and Bray.

The latest Census figures show Drogheda, Co Louth was the town with the largest population in the State, with 44,135 people recorded there on the night the survey was carried out.

Navan was found to be the fourth largest town with a population of 33,886.

Dundalk is the second largest town with Swords, Co Dublin third on the list.

Data from the Census of population shows a total of 49 towns around the country now have a population in excess of 10,000.

Of towns with a population over 10,000, Balbriggan had the youngest average age at 33.6 while Clonmel had the oldest average age at 40.8.

In total there were 49 towns with a population of 10,000 or more in 2022. Two thirds of those were in Leinster (33), with 11 in Munster, three in Connacht and two in Ulster.

The report’s findings show that age profiles differ considerably across the country, with relatively fewer children and large cohorts of young adults in areas such as Dublin City and Galway City.

On a national scale, one third of people were living in cities and suburbs in 2022 and just under 30% (1.5 million) of the population lived outside cities and suburbs or towns.

Towns with a population of 10,000 or more made up over 18% of the country’s population, with just under 1 million people.