PRELIMINARY FINDINGS from last night’s census should be known by July, but it will be next spring before a full detailed analysis is available.
Last night two million census forms were due to be filled out in homes and businesses across the country.
Some 1.7 million homes were expected to have at least one person in them last night. When hotels, guesthouses and shipping are taken into account, two million forms should be returned.
The forms were distributed over the past three weeks. Residents are legally obliged to fill them out or face a fine of up to €25,000.
They contained questions for householders on the type of accommodation they live in, the type of heating they use and if they have internet access.
Householders are also asked personal questions such as age, marital status, religion, ethnic background and education.
A census will be conducted in all 27 European Union member states this year, and each will collect the same data.
Last year the US, India, China, Russia and Brazil, among others, conducted a census of their populations.
Costing €55 million over a three-year period, the Irish census involves 5,500 enumerators who will revisit properties in coming days to collect forms. The results of the census will be released in different phases as they become available.
The first results will form the Preliminary Population Report, to be published in July. It will contain the total population of males and females in each electoral division and will be based on summary data taken from the front of the census forms. The full results are expected to be published in April 2012 once forms are scanned and data captured.
