People in Tipperary are staying in education longer now than in 2016

People in Tipperary are staying in education longer, according to new Census 2022 figures released by the Central Statistics Office.

According to Profile Eight: The Irish Language and Education, the average age of education completion rose from 19.3 in 2016 to 20.2 in 2022.

This is quite the increase compared to 18.6 years in 2011.

There was also an increase in the number of people who hold a third level qualification.

In 2022, 43,200 people said they had a third level qualification compared to 34,900 people in 2016.

That came to 38% of the population over 15 years.

Seven-hundred and twenty-six people reported holding a PhD, which was 1.9% of all PhDs in the country.

Completion

There was an increase of 500 people over 15 years who completed their education at upper secondary level.

This came to 32,900 people,or 29% of the peopulation over 15, who finished school at Leaving Certificate, while 18,200 did so at Junior certificate.

But that was 600 people less than in 2016.

Twelve-hundred two-hundred reported finishing school at primary level or having no formal education.

However, that was down significantly from the 2016 figure of 14,200.

Local Electoral Area

Newport had the highest average age of education completion at 21 years old.

Nenagh and Clonmel follow at 20.6 and 20.3, respectively.

Below the county average was Carrick-On-Suir at 19.5 and Roscrea-Templemore at 19.7.

The average age of education completion in Thurles was 20.2.

And in Cahir and Cashel-Tipperary, it was 20 years old.

Outcomes

Only some of the data in the set was broken down by county.

Outcomes in economic status, early school leavers and types of work were not available for Tipperary.

However, the national statisitics show that 37% of people unemployed finished school before the age of 19.

That is compared to 28% of people in work.

Forty percent of people in work did not cease education before age 21.

The CSO defined early-school leavers as those who ceased education before the age of 16. More than half were men (57%).

Sixty-eight percent were over 60 years old.

The unemployment rate for early-school leavers was 15%, which was over double that of the general population at 8%.