Catholicism gains numbers but loses share of total

THE number of Catholics in the country has increased in Ireland by more than 218,000 since the last census.

The 6.3% rise in Catholic believers comes despite abuse scandals and troubles which have plagued the Church since the last census was taken in 2002.

Census figures show the Catholic population has grown from 3,462,606 four years ago to 3,681,446 when the recent census was taken.

By far the biggest religious grouping, its share of all religious groups actually fell from 88.4% to 86.8%.

Other significant changes saw Muslims become the third largest religious category since the previous census, moving up from fifth place.

The 2006 census shows 32,539 Muslims living in Ireland, a near 70% increase in the number of muslims here since the last figures were taken.

However, people with no religion are still the second largest group in the State when it comes to including all categories.

A total of 186,318 people said they had no religion when asked in the latest census, a rise of one-third since the previous check.

Some 26 categories were noted in the census, including where it was not stated if a person had a belief.

Declared Church of Ireland (including Protestants) believers have increased nominally also, bringing numbers up to over 125,000.

Meanwhile, several smaller non-Christian based religions have seen numbers grow significantly.

These include traditionally Asian religions like Hinduism and Buddhism.

The latest census shows Buddhists numbers have increased by 67% to over 6,500 believers.

Hindus meanwhile have nearly doubled in believers, now numbering just over 6,000.

Apostolic or Pentecostal believers saw the biggest percentage increase in numbers, rising nearly 158% to over 8,000.

The breakdown of religious or non-religious categories also showed which nationalities people were.

Of Catholics, aside from the 3.4 million Irish people, believers included those from Britain (54,214), the rest of the EU (112,806) as well as the US (13,229) and Asia (12,443).

A total 213,412 non-Irish people declared themselves Catholics.

Non-Irish Church of Ireland believers were largely from Britain.