This article is from page 4 of the 2007-07-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE is quickly becoming one of the most cosmopolitan counties in Ireland with the latest figures show- ing that 44 per cent of people living in Clare have been born outside the county.
The latest census figures show that out of the 2006 population of 108,760, 47,339 people were born
outside Clare with 16,102 of that fig- ure born outside Ireland.
The trend of people born outside Clare living in the county is also an upward one.
The 1991 census recorded 36 per cent of the population coming from outside Clare. In 2002 that increased to 39 per cent. In four years this in- creased by five per cent.
The Clare figure is well ahead of
statistics for the same group in Mun- ster counties. The figures show that only 29 per cent of Limerick resi- dents have been born outside Limer- ick, 32 per cent of Kerry residents, 24 per cent of Cork residents and 36 per cent of Tipperary North residents. Underlining the changing face of Clare, there are now more Poles in the county than Africans, with 1,381 Polish-born people compared to
1,155 African born.
The figures also show that there are more than double the number of residents from the EU accession countries in Clare than citizens from the original EU 15. Accession state citizens in the county number 2,421 while those of the EU 15 total 1,204.
The highest proportion of non-Irish nationals in Clare remains people from England and Wales who ac- count for 6,889 of the population. There are 582 people from the United States, 667 from Asia and 603 who are included in the “other category”. Within the Asian category there are 211 Chinese.
The census shows that there was net migration of 4,169 into Clare during the 2002-06 period.
Underlining the growing cosmo- politan nature of Ennis and Shannon, the figures show that of the 23,101 population in Ennis, 10,456 of the residents have been born outside of ET
The figures show that there are 1,128 residents in Ennis born in the EU accession countries. In Shannon, the figures show that the town has a population of 8,942 with 5,765 not born in Clare.
The figures for Ennis and Shannon are in contrast to Kilrush. The figures show that of the 2,569 population of the west Clare town, 1,804 have been born in Clare.