This article is from page 12 of the 2012-05-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
WOMEN are considered the fairer sex, but now they can be officially labelled the longer living sex as well where Clare is concerned, the latest statistics for the county from the 2011 National Census of Population have revealed.
The figures that were released in the third bulletin report from the Central Statistics Office last Thursday, show that there are now 14, 519 people of pension age in the county, with women outnumbering men. The latest breakdown of the battle of the sexes in Clare comes on the back of the first bulletin report from the CSO that revealed that there were more women than men in the county for the first time since the 1871 census.
In April it was revealed that of the county’s 117,196 population, 58,898 were female and 58,298 were male. Now, confirmation that women in the county are living longer than men has come with statistics which reveal that there are 7,652 women of retirement age in the county as against 6,869 men.
The figures for those of retirement age in Clare shows that, in keeping with national trends, the county is home to an ageing population. The 2006 census returns for the county showed that there were 12, 519 people of retirement age, which represented 11.5 per cent of the total population of 110, 590.
Five years on there has been a jump of 2,065 in the numbers of people of retirement age living in the county, with the increase to 14,519 meaning that 12.4 per cent of Clare’s 117,196 population are now of pension age.
In releasing the breakdown of figures of those of retirement age, the CSO has split the post-65 generation into five different groups – 65-69, 7074,75-79, 80-84 and 85 and over.
The biggest gap between females and males is to be found in the 85 and over category, with females outnumbering males by more than two to one. There are 1, 581 of 85 and over in the county, 1,070 of them being females to only 511 males.
This trend of women being in the majority is continued in the 75-79 age group, where there are 1,359 women to 1,264 men and the 80-84 category where the breakdown stands at 1,069 women to 781 men.