There has been a 187% increase in people who identify as ‘not religious’ in Ireland, according to the latest Census 2022 results.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) today released the Census 2022 details on diversity, migration, ethnicity, Irish Travellers and religion.

According to the survey, over 3.5 million people living in Ireland are Roman Catholic, accounting for 69% of the population.

Meanwhile, the number of people who reported having no religion increased to 736,210 – making up over 14% of the population.

This was a 63% increase from the 2016 Census results and a 187% since the 2011 census. 

There were a further 3,823 people who wrote that they were Agnostic or Atheist in the 'other' category of the form but did not tick the 'no religion' box on the form.

The second largest religious grouping was Church of Ireland or England, Anglican and Episcopalian which accounted for 124,749 people, an increase of 2% since 2016. 

Orthodox religions accounted for over 100,000 people, an increase of 65% in six years and of 128% in the 11 years since Census 2011. 

People aged 25 to 29 were least likely to be Roman Catholic (53%) and most likely to be non-religious (26%) and Hindu (2%). 

Diversity

The Census results also found there was roughly 632,000 non-Irish citizens living in Ireland, accounting for 12% of the population. 

Almost 313,000 were EU citizens, and over 83,000 were UK citizens. 

Some 77% of Irish citizens identified as Roman Catholic and 13% identified as having no religion. 

The proportion of Polish citizens who were Roman Catholic was relatively high as well at 70%.