Census 1926 exhibition will be coming to Kildare

Naas Library and Cultural Centre has been chosen as one of ten venues across the country to host an exhibition on the 1926 Census. The exhibition, which starts in Dublin Castle this month, will take place in July and will present a picture of life in 1926, from sport and entertainment to language, culture, religion, gender and the working lives of the inhabitants of the Irish Free State.

The 1926 Census data will be published and made publicly available TODAY, Saturday, 18 April 2026. The National Archives of Ireland has digitised over 700,000 individual return sheets containing data from the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland. It will provide a unique snapshot of life in Ireland as the first census undertaken following the foundation of the state. 

The census collected 21 data sets such as name, age, sex, marital status, religion, housing conditions and ability to speak Irish. Personal information entered on individual census forms can be published 100 years after a census is taken. 

On the night of 18 April 1926, the population of Ireland was 2,971,992, with 49% female and 51% male. This represented a 5.3% reduction since the previous census in 1911, which recorded a population of 3,139,688.

92.6% of the population was Catholic.

18.3% could speak Irish.

Of those employed, 51% were in agricultural occupations, 4% were fishermen, 14% were in manufacturing, and 7% were domestic servants.

Photographs use Policy — Privacy Policy