Census 2011

While most media pundits have been focusing on the headline numbers on Identity and Religion, further reading reveals some interesting statistics for the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland. Here is an initial overview of some of the results of the Census:

The population in Northern Ireland has increased by 7.5% since 2001 to just over 1.8million and while the amount of children under 16 fell from 24% to 21%, people aged 65 and older grew from 13% to 15% over the last 10 years.

Minority ethnic groups also saw a large rise from 0.8% in 2001 to 1.8% (32,400) of the population.

In Health, 21% of the population responded, saying they have a long term health problem or disability which limits their day to day activities.

The Census also highlights that 12% of households in Northern Ireland have been designed or adapted for wheelchair use, mobility difficulties, visual difficulties, hearing difficulties or other circumstances.

Delving in to the Labour Market statistics we see that 66% of people aged 16 to 74 are economically active with a breakdown of 36% full time, 13% part time, 8.9% self-employed and 5% unemployed. 3.7% were noted as economically active full-time students.  In terms of the 34% economically inactive, 13% were retired, 7.3% were long term sick or disabled, 6.2% students, 4.4% were looking after the home or family and 2.9% marked as other.

5.8% of households with children had no adults in employment. Lone parent households also grew by 27% (50,500 to 63,900) since 2001 with 91% of lone parents being female.  Employment in lone parents increased from 20% to 31% for part-time and 20% to 22% for full-time over the ten year period and the percentage of lone parents not in work fell from 60% to 47%.

There will be a lot more data analysis and number crunching over the next few days but we will be posting more articles about the Census and would welcome any of your thoughts on the findings.

If you would like the full Census data it is all available on http://www.ninis2.nisra.gov.uk/public/Theme.aspx?themeNumber=136&themeName=Census