1. Accessing Census Data
Fergal Conlon
West Cork Development Partnership
[With help from a presentation prepared by
Aileen Healy – CSO
&
Eoighan McCarthy – NUI Maynooth]

2. Democratisation of Information

3. Local Communities as Experts
• The Information Age…..
• Opportunity for…
– Bespoke smart design of services – taking account
of unique local circumstances.
– The primary stakeholder – local community – can
also be the most sophisticated authority.
– Break-down of barriers between “experts” and
local people.

5. Making the right decisions about our future
Across all levels of government, business and
society.
Deploying our resources where most needed
and where they will have most positive
impact.
How do we make these decisions and how do
we know we are making the best ones?

7. Who uses
Census Data?
Development Companies
Students

8. Title of Publication Publication Type Publication Date
Principal Demographic Results Volume 29 Mar
Population Classified by Area Volume 26 April
Profile 1 – Geography Profile 26 April
Profile 2 – Ages Profile 24 May
Principal Socio-Economic Results Volume 28 June
Profile 3 – Workers and Employment Profile 26 July
Small Area Population Statistics Web Tables 31 July
Profile 4 – Housing Profile 30 August
Profile 5 – Households, Families and Marital Status Profile 20 September
Profile 6 – Migration and Diversity Profile 11 October
Profile 7 – Disability, Carers and Health Profile 1 November
Profile 8 – Education Profile 22 November
Profile 9 – Commuting Profile 13 December

9. • 2011 census results are published in a variety
of formats:
– Results volumes and profiles
– Interactive Web tables
– Small Area Population Statistics (SAPS)-
– Interactive Mapping tools
• All are available online on CSO website at:
www.cso.ie/census

10. • Selection of hard copy volumes
• To meet needs of heavy users who need a
quick reference publication
• Main results in volume format:
– This is Ireland – Highlights, Part 1 (Principal
Demographic Results)
– This is Ireland – Highlights, Part 2 (Principal
Socio-Economic Results)
– Population by Area

11. • Majority of results by way of series of census profiles
organised by theme.
• Contents:
– Commentary – interpretation and analysis of results
– Thematic maps and charts.
– Limited number of tables of data
• Objective to get behind the data and present analysis and
commentary on some of the highlights.
• Ideas for generating comparable data at local area

12. These are the Census
reports published by the
CSO. PDFs of each hard
copy report can be
viewed online.
Log on to www.cso.ie and
follow the steps set out in
the following screenshots:

13. • Accompany each census release
• Available as interactive web-only tables on CSO
website.
• Data available to download to MS Excel

14. • Include 19,000 new small areas which typically include 75-
150 dwellings.
• 10 geographic layers
• 600 Tables
• 24,000 polygons (including 19,000 Small Areas, 3,400
Electoral divisions etc.)
• Tables available:
– by area ( e.g. urban/rural, towns, Electoral
Divisions, Police and Health services areas)
– Thematically (Age, Marital Status, etc.)
• Access using interactive mapping search tool (SAPMAP –
Bernard’s Part)

15. State
Different levels
of geography
for which data 4 Provinces
is available:
8 Regional Authority
Areas
34 Administrative
Counties
8 Gaeltacht
Areas
273
Health Towns, Pop>1000
Service
Executive 3,409
•Areas Electoral
•Local Areas Divisions
Garda Urban and 18,488
Regions, Rural areas Small
• Divisions of each Areas
• Districts county

16. Access the
census
homepage by
clicking here
or here

17. Click here to
see Census
2011 data

18. Click on the
topic you wish
to view below

20. Commentary presents interpretation and analysis of
some of the data, illustrated by graphs and maps.

21. • A series of interactive web tables accompanying each publication are available
on line.
• These include
– the data tables available in the publication, (often in greater detail)
– For Census profiles, additional web tables which are only available online.
• Interactive tables – allow to select, view, sort, graph, map, print and download
data.
• For certain tables data for previous censuses are also included allowing
creation of time series to compare data.
• To access: Log on to www.cso.ie and follow the steps set out in the following
screenshots:
• My view: - Not as easy as previous census interactive tables for small
areas – This may be a work in progress.

22. Click to
access
Census
2011
results

23. Select the
topic you
wish to
research.

24. You will see a list of all the
interactive tables available for this
topic.
Scroll down and
click to select the
table you are
interested in. This
example will look at
age groups in
towns.

25. 2. Click on the A file download
arrow dialogue box will
appear. You can
opt to open or
save the file.
You can also
download the 1. Select the
data in a variety format you
of formats. require – e.g.
Excel

26. When you open the
Co. Fingal population aged 0-4 - Census 2011.
download the data will be
4000
presented in an Excel 3500
spreadsheet. 3000
2500
2000
1500
You can then use the 1000
functionality of Excel to 500
0
manipulate, analyse and
present the data to suit your
needs. e.g. to graph the data

27. Pre-school population in County Fingal Towns Census
2011.
40000 16.0%
35000 14.0%
You can manipulate 30000 12.0%
25000 10.0%
the data for example 20000 8.0%
by calculating a 15000 6.0%
10000 4.0%
percentage and 5000 2.0%
graphing the resulting 0 0.0%
data.
No. In 0-4 age group 0-4 age group as % of total population

28. • 46 tables for 23,074 Geographic areas
• Tables are available
– Thematically (Age, Marital Status, Education, Economic Status, etc.)
– Geographically( e.g. Regional
Authority, Province, County, Town, Electoral Divisions, Small Areas)
• Access using interactive mapping search tool
(SAPMAP)
• 2011 data includes 18,488 new small areas which
typically include 80-100 dwellings.
• 16.4 million pieces of data

29. • See map and data for a selected geographical
area
• See data for selected census themes
• Download the data to Excel
• See all the data for the selected geographic level
as a pdf
• Link to the AIRO site on NIRSI site to see thematic
presentation of the data
• Practice & Play around with tools!