Population and Demography

The population of Sligo town over the last 400 years distinguishes the Borough as a clearly functioning urban centre, distinct from its vast rural hinterland. The lack of any other sizable urban centres within a twenty-five mile radius attests to Sligo’s historic position as the economic and market centre of the region.

Early population estimates from the 1600s, Population of Sligo Borough 1600-2011 suggest that the county had between 16,000 20,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, with Sligo town home to about 600 souls. By 1659, the 18,000 population of the town had been estimated 16,000 at upwards of 1,000, an indication of growing 14,000 prosperity. Between 20 and 40 per cent of the adult population are believed to have 12,000 been English and Scottish settlers, including 10,000 numerous soldiers. 8,000

The population of County Sligo appears to 6,000 have fluctuated in the first half of the 18th 4,000 century, declined significantly in 1750, when the county experienced a brief period of 2,000 famine, but after that grew considerably. The 0 county population was estimated at 35,000 1600 1659 1665 1732 1772 1774 1779 1781 1791 1800 1812 1831 1851 1871 1891 1911 1936 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2002 2011 in 1732, with Sligo town home to about 1776b 1777b 1,700 people. By 1749, the town had grown to 2,468 inhabitants, and calculations for the 1770s indicated a population of around Population Sligo Borough compared to Sligo County, 1600-2011 2,800, rising significantly to over 7,000 by 200,000

1795. The town had a substantial protestant 180,000 population by the 1750s, with Synge’s County Borough census recording 314 protestant households 160,000 in the Borough, over 47 per cent of the total. 140,000 Population estimates for the county in 1790s 120,000 were in the region of 70,000 people. 100,000 Borough At the dawn of the 19th century, Sligo was 80,000 County the second largest urban centre in Connacht, after Galway, but was small in comparison to 60,000 the urban centres along the east and south 40,000 coast, and the rapidly developing towns of 20,000 the north-east. 0

The population of the town in 1801 was 1600 1603 1659 1663 1665 1682 1706 1712 1718 1726 1732 1733 1735 1739 1741 1744 1746 1749 1753 1760 1762 1772 1773 1774 1776 1776 1777 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1783 1791 1795 1800 1801 1812 1813 1821 1831 1837 1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 1926 1936 1946 1951 1959 1961 1966 1971 1979 1981 1986 1991 1996 2002 2006 2011 about 10,000. In 1805 there were 1,036 houses in the town, the majority of which were cabins. Official census figures exist from At the time of the 1936 census, Sligo was County Borough 1821 onwards, and show that the town’s ranked as the eighth largest town in the Free State, with a population of 12,565, almost 20 population was hovering around the 10,000 Percentage of county's population mark in that year, about 7 per cent of the per cent of the total population of the county. living in Sligo Borough 1841 total county population of 146,000; A decade Subsequent economic decline resulted in the later the inhabitants of the town numbered population of County Sligo dropping by over 93% over 15,000, a 50 per cent leap. 25 per cent between 1936 and 1971. The census of 1841 saw the highest ever The population of the Borough of Sligo held population recorded in County Sligo, over steady, increasing to 14,100 in 1971. In the 7% 180,000 people, with 12,271 or almost following decade, a demographic movement 7 per cent of them living within the Borough. resulted in a 17 per cent increase in the town’s However, the decimation caused by the population to 16,500 by 1980, and at the dawn of new millennium, it stood at 18,500. Percentage of county's population Famine and its aftermath, resulted in the living in Sligo Borough 1979 decrease of the county population by almost By 2011 Sligo town accounted for over 27 per half between 1841 and 1891. cent of the county’s population. In fact the 70% In contrast, Sligo town did not suffer population of the immediate hinterland of the same decline. The population of the the Borough, including the commuter areas municipal borough remained stagnant over of Ballisodare, Collooney and Rosses Point, is slightly in excess of 30,000, emphasising the following decades, but dropped to just 30% over 10,000 by 1871. The extension of the Sligo’s prime economic position in the Borough’s boundaries by 1871 resulted in region, a role that it has enjoyed for over a modest addition of numbers, enough to seven centuries. Percentage of county's population stabilise the decline in the urban population, living in Sligo Borough 2011 which reached 10,900 by the dawn of the 20th century. In 1841, the town held just 73% 7 per cent of the county’s population; by 1901 that percentage share had increased to 13 per cent. Map of Sligo and Environs showing Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) 27%

Percentage of county's population living Drumcliffe in Sligo Borough and the adjacent Electoral Divisions of Calry Kilmacowen and Knocknarea 2011 Rosses Point

SLIGO URBAN 62%

LEA CALRY ED North Strandhill LEA LEA 38% KNOCKNAREE ED West East

l l G i Sligo Borough 17,568 L o u g h KILMACOWEN ED Calry 1,806 Kilmacowen 2,230 Knocknarea 3,557 Total 25,161

Ballisodare (County 40,232) (Total 65,393)