Kildare Observer Notes on 1926 Census
The ‘Notes and Comments’ writer in the Kildare Observer on 22 May 1926 declared themselves very interested in the upcoming population statistics that would emerge from the recently undertaken census: ‘An estimate has been hazarded by the “Irish Trade Journal” to the effect that the population of Ireland is now 4,403,381, which would represent an increase of the country’s population of 13,662 since 1911. The official figures for the Saorstat are not yet available, but if the figures mentioned above are to be relied on, they would represent an increase of 13,662, the first increase recorded for 85 years. It is curious that the Saorstat estimate shows an excess of 30,000 males over females, while in Northern Ireland there is an excess of 39,000 females over males. The men of the North lost no time in issuing the result of the recent census, but the Saorstat is not yet in a position to give us the result of the census taken on “the day of reckoning”‘.
It would take a while before the writer in the Kildare Observer could take up this subject again. On September 4, 1926, they were in a position to write: ‘Co. Kildare, according to the census returns, suffered serious diminution of population in the last 15 years. In 1911 our population was 66,627, in 1925 it had fallen to 58,035, being a decrease of 12.9 per cent. In the urban districts, Athy fell from 3,535 in 1911 to 3,459 in 1926, being a reduction of 2.1 per cent. In the same period the population of Naas fell from 3,842 to 3,443, a reduction of 399 or 10.4 per cent. It is curious to note that the population of males in Naas Urban area exceeds that of females by 101, while in Athy area there are 11 more females than males. The other towns in Kildare of which the census are given are Newbridge, population in 1911, 3,400, decreased to 2,250 in 1926. Of course, the departure of the British army accounts in great measure for the fall of population in the towns of Naas, Newbridge and Kildare. It is remarkable that in the whole population of Co. Kildare the male population exceeds the female population by 5,929, which shows a greater excess of males as compared with females than in any other county in Leinster. From 1821 to 1901 the proportion of females was greater in Leinster than males, but the census of 1911 showed that there were slightly less females than males, the ratio of females per thousand males being 993’.
By Kevin Dowling, Kildare County Archives And Local Studies.
