Ireland (Republic of Ireland)

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Catholic story in Ireland is its recent transformation from the country with perhaps the highest rate of Catholic practice to a country where Catholic life is spoken about in the past tense. Many Irish under age 60 identify themselves as “Catholic but not religious.” In very many ways, Ireland looks fairly secular today, but no one disputes the emphasis on sacraments, and devotional qualities of Irish Catholicism endure today. Read more...

    Religious Affiliation
    Chart source: Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 2010

    Note: The Catholic Church's Ireland data amalgamates statistics for both the Republic of Ireland and the six counties comprising Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

    Total Population
    4,803,748 1
    Urban
    63.20% 1
    Rural
    36.80% 1
    Immigrants as % of Population
    15.9% 2
    Homicides
    0.64 per 100,000 people (global median 6.9) 3
    Level of Public Corruption
    19 (1=lowest, 176=highest corruption) 4
    Gender Equality in the Economy, Health, Education and Politics
    6 (1=most equal, 144=least equal) 7
    Fertility Rate
    2.01 births per adult woman 5
    Children Who Do Not Live to Age 5
    0.40% 5
    Life Expectancy at Birth
    81 years 5
    Internet Users
    80% 5
    Gross National Income per Capita
    US$46,550 5

    These statistics are derived from the Vatican's official publication, Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022). The numbers may differ from data reported by other sources on this site.

    Baptized Catholics
    5,630,000
    Baptized Catholics as % of Total Population
    76.08
    Baptisms per Year (Under age 7)
    42,747
    Baptisms per Year (Over age 7)
    487
    First Communions per Year
    59,516
    Confirmations per Year
    65,887
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Primary Schools
    527,129
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Secondary Schools
    352,808
    Students Enrolled in Catholic Higher Education
    36,016
    Church Marriages per Year
    6,540
    Church Marriages in Which Both Spouses are Catholics
    6,134
    Priests
    3,928
    Women Religious (Nuns & Sisters)
    5,091
    Catholics per Priest
    1,433
    Parishes
    1,358
    Catholic Hospitals
    22
    Homes for Aged, Handicapped, Invalids
    29
    • 1 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition.
    • 2 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 revision.
    • 3 United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Homicide Statistics 2015.
    • 4 Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.
    • 5 UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 2016.
    • 6 Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022).
    • 7 World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report, 2016.