Photo: DiarmuidC15 · CC BY-SA 4.0Ferbane is older than 93% of Irish towns: a median age of 42.6
The share of residents who said they are Catholic is 90%, against 71% across Ireland’s towns. Shared households of unrelated adults account for 1.5%. Households in flats are rarer here than in 98% of Irish towns. 1,324 residents in 518 households: that is Ferbane at the 2022 Census.
What stands out about the people of Ferbane
Older than most towns
Half of Ferbane’s residents are under 42.6 and half over; the typical median across Irish towns is 37.6. 22% are 65 or over, against 14% across Ireland’s towns. Ages ↓
Many carers
About 100 residents (7.2%) give regular unpaid care, more than in 97% of Irish towns. Relationships & caring ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
+4% since 2016, a pace below 71% of Irish towns
Residents at the 2016 and 2022 censuses, on 2022 boundaries, and the change beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Change, 2016 to 2022
CSO publishes yearly population estimates for counties and regions, not towns, so the trend is two censuses rather than a line; 2016 ages aren’t on 2022 boundaries, so there is no change by age.
The median across Ireland’s towns is +8%, and across Co. Offaly’s towns +7%.
Ferbane ranks above 94% of Irish towns on residents aged 65 and over: 22%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The biggest five-year age group is 40–44, with 6.9% of residents. 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24, more than in 50% of Irish towns. Against that, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Offaly 50.9%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
A lower share of residents who moved in within the year than 98% of Irish towns, at 3.2%
CSO’s social classes (everyone, by their own or their family’s occupation), the occupations of those at work, and where residents lived a year before the Census.
Residents by social class · all residents
Where residents lived a year earlier
Residents who lived somewhere else a year earlier. The bar runs to 25%.
Workers by occupation · residents at work
Workers here lean to skilled trades: 15%, against a typical 11%. As a yardstick, 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns.
A larger share of one-person households than 72% of Irish towns: 28%
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Offaly’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Across Ireland’s towns, the share of households of parents with children is 43%; Ferbane has 41%. The benchmark for one-person households across Ireland’s towns: 24%. Each household has 2.6 people on average.
A lower share of households without a car or van than 79% of Irish towns, at 8.9%
Home types, cars and the internet, by household. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
Internet at home · share of households
84% have broadband at home and 13% no internet at all (typical: 7.6%). Few places have so few holiday homes: 0.2% here, fewer than in 54% of Irish towns. The comparison figure for households without a car or van is 17% across Ireland’s towns.
The middle household earns €53,160 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
A median gross household income of €53,160 sits 12% below Ireland (€60,120). Countywide, Co. Offaly has a median of €56,050.
8% of residents were born outside Ireland, fewer than in 98% of Irish towns
Place of birth and citizenship as CSO asks them: born abroad includes Irish citizens born abroad.
Born abroad, by birthplace · share of all residents; the bar runs to 30%
Citizenship · share of all residents; the bar runs to 30%
Citizens of another country, by citizenship; CSO counts dual Irish citizens as Irish.
Other languages · share of all residents
CSO’s small-area tables don’t give the year people arrived.
4.6% speak a language other than English at home, Polish most of all (0.8%); 0.6% speak English not well or not at all. On residents with another country’s citizenship, Ferbane sits lower than 99% of Irish towns: 3.9%. As a yardstick, just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns.
34% of Ferbane’s residents can speak Irish
Residents aged 3 and over who can speak Irish, and how often they speak it outside education (CSO).
Irish speakers · residents aged 3 and over
Across Ferbane, 1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education. Some 419 people here, 34% of residents aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. It is the highest share of Co. Offaly’s 8 towns of 2,500+.
Ferbane sits below 99% of Irish towns for residents with no religion (7%)
Ethnic or cultural background and religion, in CSO’s categories, as people described themselves.
Ethnic groups other than White Irish · all residents
White Irish, not charted: 95% of Ferbane · Co. Offaly’s towns 87% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
95% of residents describe themselves as White Irish, against 78% across Ireland’s towns. Set beside that, 17% of residents said they have no religion across Ireland’s towns. The groups that follow White Irish are Other White (2.7%), Irish Traveller (0.9%) and Asian or Asian Irish (0.9%).
Married residents 15 and over make up 39% in Ferbane, more than in 83% of Irish towns
Marital status of residents 15 and over, and unpaid carers.
Partnership status · residents 15 and over
The small-area tables count carers, not their hours of care.
7.2% of residents give unpaid care (Ireland’s towns: 5.4%). On average, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
A lower share of adults with a degree or higher than 80% of Irish towns, at 24%
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
5.6% of Ferbane’s adults hold a postgraduate qualification, and 13% finished their education at primary level or earlier (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%). As a yardstick, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
Every nearby town is younger than Ferbane
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Offaly’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Co. Offaly has fewer than five towns of 2,500 or more, so its figure is the median of its towns of 1,000 or more; the national figure is the median of the Irish towns of 2,500 or more (city totals left out). Percentiles are within Ireland only.
- The earlier population is an estimate. Towns had no official 2016 count on today’s boundaries, so the 2016 figure is CSO’s electoral-division count shared out by where people lived in 2022: read a small town in a large rural division loosely.
- What these tables don’t give. The small-area tables give no year of arrival and no hours of care, and a town’s electoral divisions run past its edge, so the page doesn’t split a town into named areas (a city lists its neighbourhoods).
- The census’s own words. Born abroad, citizenship, ethnic or cultural background and religion are CSO’s questions and categories; the page compares them with other towns and never labels a town by them.
Questions about Ferbane’s residents
What is the population of Ferbane?
Ferbane had 1,324 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 4% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ferbane?
The median age is 42.6. 22% are under 18 and 22% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ferbane?
34% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (419 people), and 1% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ferbane?
95% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 8% were born abroad and 3.9% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ferbane?
90% are Catholic, 7% have no religion and 2.8% another religion; 3% didn’t say.
Is Ferbane good for families?
41% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 22% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ferbane are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ferbane?
Median gross household income in Ferbane was €53,160 in 2022, against €56,050 across Co. Offaly and €60,120 for Ireland.
Sources: CSO, Census of Population 2022, Small Area Population Statistics · CSO PxStat FP009 (2016 by electoral division) · CSO GPIIA, household income 2022. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).