What the 1926 census reveals about Ireland a century ago

This is the first census carried out following the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922.

It was taken on the night of April 18, 1926 — exactly a century ago. At the time, the population of Ireland was 2,971,992, compared with 3,139,688 recorded in the 1911 census.

Additionally, 92.6% of the population identified as Catholic, 18.3% could speak Irish, and 51% of the workforce worked in agriculture.

The records were stored in 1,344 boxes. As part of a major digitisation project by the National Archives of Ireland, supported by the Government, the initiative involved preserving the records using high-volume scanning equipment and “intelligent automation” to transcribe handwritten responses.

Unlike the 1901 and 1911 census records, which are already available online, the 1926 census does not include Northern Ireland.

The dataset includes 13 categories, such as names, addresses, age, sex, marital status, birthplace, relationship to the head of the household, ability to speak Irish, and occupation and employment.

Another category relates to married women, who were required to state how long they had been married and record the number of children born alive.

Married men, widows, and widowers were also asked to state the number of living children, stepchildren under the age of 16, and whether they were residing in the household or elsewhere.

The returns also recorded the total acreage of agricultural holdings associated with each household.

The census includes information at district electoral division level, broadly comparable to today’s local electoral areas.

People searching for ancestors are being urged to have as many details as possible before using the database and to be aware of language differences, as some forms were completed in Irish rather than English.