Photo: Pascal.de.Rascal · CC BY-SA 4.0A holiday town: 4.8% of homes are holiday homes
Where 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns, The Ballagh has 91%. At the same time, fewer shared households of unrelated adults than in 95% of Irish towns: 2%. The 2022 Census counted 560 residents in 205 households. Households of parents with children: just over half of the total.
The Ballagh changed by +5% from 2016 to 2022, behind 66% 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.
Elsewhere, the median is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +11% across Co. Wexford’s towns.
Half of The Ballagh is under 35.6, younger than 75% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The largest age band is 10–14: 9.5% of residents, 1.3 times the share across Ireland’s towns. The census found that 13% of residents are aged 15 to 24 in The Ballagh. Residents aged 65 and over are rarer here than in just over three quarters of Irish towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 84 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Wexford 51.3%, Ireland 51.2%.
5.3% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, below 82% of Irish towns
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 The Ballagh, the professional, managerial and technical classes take in 25% of residents and the semi-skilled and unskilled classes 20%, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. The comparison figure for residents who moved in within the year is 7.5% across Ireland’s towns.
Larger households than 54% of Irish towns: 2.7 people on average
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Wexford’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
One-person households: a quarter of the total.
Households in flats make up 0.5% in The Ballagh, less than in 99% of Irish towns
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
Internet at home: broadband for 78%, nothing for 8.5% (typical: 7.6%). For The Ballagh, the census puts households without a car or van at 5.8%. As a reference point, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns.
€56,150 a year: the median household income
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Households here have a median gross income of €56,150, 7% lower than across Ireland (€60,120). Co. Wexford’s median household income is €51,440.
Below 96% of Irish towns: 12% of residents were born outside Ireland
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.
Residents with another country’s citizenship make up 5.9%, against 15% across Ireland’s towns. Set beside that, 22% of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in the UK (8.2%) and in Poland (1.8%).
Of The Ballagh’s residents, 31% 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
Top of Co. Wexford: Gorey, at 0.9%. The Ballagh has fewer daily speakers of Irish outside education than 74% of Irish towns, at 0.8%.
Above 93% of Irish towns: 81% of residents said they are Catholic
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: 91% of The Ballagh · Co. Wexford’s towns 78% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Census figures put residents with no religion at 17% in The Ballagh. Measured more widely, 71% of residents said they are Catholic across Ireland’s towns.
29% of residents 15 and over are married, fewer than in 82% 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.
About 40 residents (7%) give regular unpaid care (Ireland’s towns 5.4%). Typically, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
18% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, below 93% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Across Ireland’s towns, 9.7% of adults finished at primary level or earlier; in The Ballagh, 15%, and 5.2% hold a postgraduate qualification. The share of adults with a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns is 36%.
The Ballagh is younger 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Ballagh | 560 | — | 35.6 | 10% | 51% |
| Castlebridge | 1,850 | 10.5 km | 40.1 | 14% | 46% |
| Enniscorthy | 12,310 | 11.1 km | 37.5 | 15% | 41% |
| Ferns | 1,317 | 13.5 km | 38.1 | 16% | 43% |
| Wexford | 21,524 | 16.8 km | 40.6 | 17% | 40% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Wexford’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Wexford’s towns of 2,500 or more and over 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 The Ballagh’s residents
What is the population of The Ballagh?
The Ballagh had 560 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 5% more than 2016.
What is the average age in The Ballagh?
The median age is 35.6. 28% are under 18 and 10% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in The Ballagh?
31% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (162 people), and 0.8% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is The Ballagh?
91% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 12% were born abroad and 5.9% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in The Ballagh?
81% are Catholic, 17% have no religion and 2.2% another religion; 4.1% didn’t say.
Is The Ballagh good for families?
51% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 28% of residents are under 18. Schools near The Ballagh are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in The Ballagh?
Median gross household income in The Ballagh was €56,150 in 2022, against €51,440 across Co. Wexford 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).