The population of Clare is less than half of what it was 180 years ago.
The Western Development Commission has published an analysis of Ireland’s demographics, which show the extent of the damage inflicted by the Famine.
The WDC profile of Clare shows that the population of this county at the time of the 2016 Census was 118,817.
Of that, 50.5% are women, with 49.5% men.
Almost 61% of the county’s population live in rural areas, while the same quota of the working age population is in the workforce, with the average commute at less than 25 minutes.
The figures also reveal that just shy of 60% of people living in Clare reported having very good health at the time of the Census count.
And like most counties, Clare appears to still be paying for the Famine of the 1840s, with an astonishing 175,000 more people living here then than there are today.
In fact, the population of Clare fell steadily until the 1970s when it bottomed out at 73,000 before gradually beginning to climb again.
James Mulhall, Clare FM, first for local news
