Number of third level graduates in Roscommon rises by over 4k

The number of people with a third level qualification in Roscommon rose from almost 14,800 in 2016 to more than 19,000 in 2022. This was a rate of 40% compared with 45% nationally. There were 266 people in the county who held a PhD, which was 0.7% of all PhD holders in the country.

Almost 13,500 people, or 29% of all those aged 15 and over, had completed their full-time education at upper secondary level. This was up from just over 13,000 people in 2016. Nationally, almost 867,400 people had completed their education at upper secondary level (26%).

Nearly 7,100 people in Offaly in Census 2022 (15% of all those aged 15 and over) had completed their education at lower secondary level, compared with almost 7,200 people in Census 2016 who indicated they had done so. More than 446,000 people nationally had completed their education at lower secondary level (13%).

More than 5,200 people aged 15 and over had completed their education at primary level or had no formal education (11%). This was down from almost 6,400 people in 2016. Nationally, nearly 332,500 people had completed their education at primary level or had no formal education (10%).

In Roscommon the average age at which people completed their full-time education rose from 19.4 years to 20.3 years. Nationally the average age went from 19.9 years to 20.8 years.

The number of people (aged three and over) who could speak Irish in Roscommon also increased by more than 1,000 to 26,853 in Census 2022. This was 41.7% of the county’s population aged three and over, compared with 42.4% in Census 2016.

Nationally, almost 1.9 million people could speak Irish, or 40% of all people aged three and over. This was up by more than 112,500 people since 2016 (+6%). There were more female than male Irish speakers in the county, with 46% of females able to speak Irish compared with 37% of males. Females nationally were also more likely to be able to speak Irish than males, accounting for 55% of all Irish speakers.

The number of people speaking Irish daily (within the education system only) fell from 7,909 in Census 2016 to 7,780 in Census 2022. There were 396 people speaking Irish daily (outside the education system only) compared with 371 people in 2016. The 1,361 people speaking Irish weekly (outside the education system only) was an increase on the 1,255 people who did so in 2016.

The Irish language question was expanded in Census 2022 to ask those who spoke Irish how well they spoke it. In Roscommon, 2,035 people who could speak Irish spoke it very well (8%), while 8,485 could speak it well (32%), and 15,440 people did not speak it well (58%). Nationwide, 10% of Irish speakers could speak the language very well with 32% speaking it well and 55% not speaking it well.