Photo: Dylan Moore · CC BY-SA 2.0A smaller share of households in flats than 98% of Irish towns: 1.6%
Compared with 78% across Ireland’s towns, 90% of residents describe themselves as White Irish here. On the census count, 48% of households are parents with children. The median age in Ballinalack is 41.1, higher than in 85% of Irish towns. The 2022 Census counted 161 residents in 62 households.
Only 9.3% of residents are aged 15 to 24 in Ballinalack
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The largest age band is 45–49: 11% of residents, 1.5 times the share across Ireland’s towns. At 14%, the share of residents aged 65 and over is lower than in 51% of Irish towns. Typically, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
56% women, 44% men
About 79 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Westmeath 50.8%, Ireland 51.2%.
A smaller share of residents who moved in within the year than 85% of Irish towns: 5.1%
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
In Ballinalack, the professional, managerial and technical classes take in 32% of residents and the semi-skilled and unskilled classes 14%, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. For residents who moved in within the year, the comparison across Ireland’s towns is 7.5%.
Households here average 2.7 people, below 54% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Westmeath’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Shared households of unrelated adults are rarer here than in 99% of Irish towns. The census found that 23% of households are one person living alone in Ballinalack.
Only 5% of households in Ballinalack have no car or van
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
Holiday homes are rarer here than in 93% of Irish towns. By way of comparison, 17% of households have no car or van across Ireland’s towns. 85% have broadband at home and 14% no internet at all (typical: 7.6%).
The middle household earns €58,800 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
At €58,800 a year before tax, the median household income is near that of Ireland (€60,120). That compares with €57,430 across Co. Westmeath.
Residents born outside Ireland make up 16% in Ballinalack, less than in 80% 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.
The most common home language after English is Polish (1.2%); in all 8.4% speak another language, and 1.9% speak English not well or not at all. Compared with other places, residents with another country’s citizenship are scarce here: 9.4%, fewer than in 80% of Irish towns. By way of comparison, just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns.
Irish speakers: 34% of Ballinalack’s residents
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
Some 52 people here, 34% of residents aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. Daily speakers of Irish outside education are rarer here than in 99% of Irish towns.
More residents who said they are Catholic than 69% of Irish towns: 74%
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: 90% of Ballinalack · Co. Westmeath’s towns 79% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
The census found that 16% of residents said they have no religion in Ballinalack. The comparison figure for residents who said they are Catholic is 71% across Ireland’s towns.
Married residents 15 and over: 42%, a higher share than 95% 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.
Unpaid carers are about as common here as across Ireland’s towns, at 5%. As a yardstick, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
In Ballinalack, 26% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, fewer than in 75% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Postgraduate: nearly one in ten adults. The comparison figure for adults with a degree or higher is 36% across Ireland’s towns. Primary level or earlier: 13%, against 9.7% across Ireland’s towns.
Ballinalack is older than every town around it
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballinalack | 161 | — | 41.1 | 14% | 48% |
| Edgeworthstown | 2,199 | 12.3 km | 35.8 | 11% | 43% |
| Castlepollard | 1,349 | 12.9 km | 39.3 | 17% | 40% |
| Mullingar | 22,667 | 14.3 km | 36.7 | 13% | 45% |
| Granard | 1,058 | 16.9 km | 36.5 | 15% | 37% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Westmeath’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Co. Westmeath 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 Ballinalack’s residents
What is the population of Ballinalack?
Ballinalack had 161 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area.
What is the average age in Ballinalack?
The median age is 41.1. 23% are under 18 and 14% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ballinalack?
34% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (52 people), and 0% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ballinalack?
90% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 16% were born abroad and 9.4% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ballinalack?
74% are Catholic, 16% have no religion and 9.4% another religion; 0.6% didn’t say.
Is Ballinalack good for families?
48% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 23% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ballinalack are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ballinalack?
Median gross household income in Ballinalack was €58,800 in 2022, against €57,430 across Co. Westmeath 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).