The Central Statistics Office published the preliminary report of the 1996 Census of Population in July 1996. This report contained population headcount figures based on summaries prepared by each of the 3,400 enumerators engaged to carry out the census fieldwork.
While the report emphasised that the results are of a preliminary character and subject to revision when the definitive results become available, previous experience suggests that the revision to the overall population count is unlikely to exceed 0.2 per cent of the preliminary population figure. A noteworthy feature of the recent report is that it is the first time that preliminary population figures were published at the level of district electoral division-ward. Revisions can be expected when the final figures for these small areas become available. However, the indications are that, in general, these will also be relatively slight.
In compiling the preliminary population figures each enumerator compared the number of households and persons returned for the 1996 census at street-townland level with the corresponding 1991 figures. The purpose of this check was to ensure that a complete enumeration had taken place and to verify any significant changes in population or households since 1991.
Regarding the figures for the wards of Sligo east and Sligo north, there was an appreciable increase in the number of private households recorded in these wards between 1991 and 1996. Two factors serve to explain why the increase in population was not of the same order: first, a decline in the population resident in institutions such as hotels and hospitals, and second, the long-term downward trend in average household size.
