CSO mobile phone data reveals majority of Laois people staying within 10 km of their homes

More than a third of the population continued to travel more than 10 kilometres from home over the past month, according to the Central Statistics Office's (CSO) latest figures.

The CSO’s Staying Local Indicator (SLI) provides estimated percentages of county populations that have stayed within 10km of their homes, based on the statistical analysis of mobile phone activity.

The figures show that 55.8% of Laois residents stayed within 10 kilometres of their homes but a large proportion of people in the county also live in rural areas and would have no option but to travel to shop and access other essential services.

Nationally, an estimated 65.7% of the population stayed local (within 10km of home) during the week ending March 12, showing a slight increase on the 63.8% reported in the previous week.

All counties showed modest SLI increases ranging from 0.5 percentage points in Leitrim to 2.5 percentage points in Donegal, Louth and Sligo indicating some tightening of mobility behaviour.

Dublin continues to be the county with the highest percentage of the population staying local (80%), reflecting its urbanised nature and access to services compared to other counties, while Carlow (50.%) and Mayo (51.1%), with relatively lower levels of urbanisation, are among the counties with the lowest percentage of persons staying within 10km of home.

This is the seventh of an insight series on mobility produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), providing daily estimated percentages of county populations that have stayed within 10km of home, averaged over the preceding seven days.