Religious Composition of Ireland 1834-2011 :
NOTE: The statistics for 1834 and 1861 refer to the whole of Ireland; those from 1881 onwards have been adjusted to exclude Northern Ireland by CSO. The 1834 figures list 'Methodist' under 'Anglican (Church of Ireland)'
From 1881 to 2011:
- The Roman Catholic population increased from 3,465,332 to 3,861,335; but as a percentage of the population, it decreased from 89.54% to 84.16%. It peaked in 1961 at 94.86% of the population. The Catholic population is continuing to increase, but not at the same rate as the overall Irish population.
- The Church of Ireland population decreased from 317,576 (8.21%) to 129,039 (2.81%). Its lowest value was 89,187 (2.53%) in 1991.
From 1961 to 2011, the category of 'No Religion' increased from 1,107 (0.04%) to 269,811 (5.88%). It now represents the largest group in Ireland by percentage and absolute values outside of the Roman Catholic Church.
Mouse over each year to obtain the figures. Click each symbol to show or hide the figures for a particular denomination.
The 'Other Religions' figure for 2011 is broken down as follows: Other Christian Religions: 41,161; Other Religions: 86,139.