Page 36 - Healthy Ireland Main Plan

Population Density

Co. Louth was the smallest of twelve counties in the Province of Leinster measured
by land area (827 km²). It was the sixth largest in terms of population based on
Census 2016 data.

It was the most densely populated county in Ireland outside of Dublin having a
population density of 156 people per km², compared to the national figure of 70.0
people per km².

Age Profile

In Census 2016, Co. Louth returned 64.51% of the population (83,142) as being
aged between 15-64 years (working population), which was slightly lower than
the State at 65% (3,117,746). Further analysis of the age profile reveals that the
proportion of people aged 75 years and older was lower in Co. Louth at 5.03%
(6,483) than the State figure of 5.5% (264,059).

Fig. 9: Population Pyramid 2016

Source: CSO Census of Population 2016

Age Dependency

At national level age dependency, which is measured as the number of younger
(0-14) and older (65+) people as a percentage of those of working age (15-64),
increased from 49.3% in 2011 to 52.7% in 2016. The number in the 65 and over
category increased by 102,174 – more than twice the 15-64 age category, which
rose by 44,477 since 2011.