THE NEXT CENSUS will be held in 2021, the government decided today.
The Taoiseach got Cabinet approval this morning for the census to be carried out in four years time, with the preparatory work by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to begin immediately.
The last census was carried out on Sunday, 24 April 2016, with the nationwide survey showing that the total population of Ireland was 4,761,865 – an increase of almost 174,000 people (3.8%) since 2011.
Censuses are usually held every four or five years and cost around €55 million to carry out. It’s understood a budget has been assigned, but the overall cost will have to be formalised in the forthcoming estimates.
This cost is spread over a three-year period and covers the preparation of IT systems, the payment of enumerators, and the processing of results.
The questionnaire covers topics such as age, marital status, gender, place of birth, occupation and housing characteristics, with the results used to draft effective government policy.
It’s understood the next census will be paper-based again.
Members of the public must complete their census form, with the CSO confirming last week that it is to issue court summonses to up to eight people over a failure their failure to fill out their census forms last year.
Ireland has been conducting Censuses of Population since 1821.
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