This article is from page 16 of the 2012-09-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
THERE are now more people over 65 living alone in the county than ever before, the latest statistical report from the 2011 census which is entitled ‘Households and Families Living Arrangements in Ireland’ has revealed.
According to the Central Statistic Office figures, it means that 29.3 per cent of people in the county over 65 are living alone, a figure that jumps to 34 per cent for over 70s in the county. The figures show that women make up the majority of people who are living alone in the county. Of the 3,904 over 65s who are liv- ing alone, women make up 2,354 of these, which represents 34.1 per cent of all women of pension age. There are 1, 550 men of pension age (29.3 per cent) living alone.
When it comes to over 70s, women are also in the majority with 40.1 per cent of the 4,618 in the county over that age living alone which gives a figure of 1,853. The figure for men is 26.8 per cent, which represents 1,066 out of 3,976.
This figures are in line with earlier statistical evidence which points to women living longer than men in the county. 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, 70-74,75-79, 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.