Athlone is now Midlands' largest town

Results from last year's Census have shown that Athlone is now the largest town in the Midlands. When the census was taken, in April 2011, the population of Athlone town and its environs stood at 20,153. This was just eight residents more than Portlaoise, and a mere fifty more than Mullingar. Tullamore was the next largest town in the Midlands (defined as counties Westmeath, Roscommon, Longford, Offaly and Laois) with a population of 14,361. When the previous census was taken, in 2006, Mullingar was the largest town in the Midlands, with 872 more residents than Athlone. The latest census found that Moate was the fastest growing town in Westmeath in recent years. Its population increased by 44.7% between 2006 and 2011, to total 2,731 last April. An even faster growth rate was seen in Ballymahon, which saw a population expansion of 62% over the five-year period. Its residents at the time of the the 2006 census numbered 963, but that rose to 1,563 last year. This made Ballymahon the fifth fastest growing town in the country, or the third fastest growing town if population centres in Dublin are excluded. The figures were contained in the latest sets of Census 2011 results which were released by the Central Statistics Office last week. Of the large towns in the Midlands, Portlaoise grew fastest between 2006 and 2011. Its population increased at a rate of 37.9%. Athlone's population grew by 14.9%, Tullamore's by 11.1% and Mullingar's by 9.2%. Longford's population increased by 8.6%, to 9,601, while Roscommon town's population grew by 13.5%, to reach 5,693. The population of Westmeath was fairly evenly split between urban and rural locations, with 48.5% of people living in urban areas. In contrast, Roscommon is mostly rural, with only 26% of its residents living in urban areas.