People in Tipperary among most educated in Ireland over 100 years ago - CSO

People in Tipperary were among the most educated in Ireland over 100 years ago. 

That's according to new data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which yesterday (March 12) published 'Stories from Census 1911: Literacy'. 

The data reveals that Dublin (excluding the City Centre) was the county with the highest literacy rate at the time at 96.6%, while Tipperary natives had between 92.2% and 93.5% literacy rates. 

Limerick, Kilkenny, Laois, Westmeath, and Carlow all had similar literacy rates to Tipperary. 

The DEDs (District Electoral Divisions) with the highest literacy rates were found to be in Tipperary, Dublin and the wider North East, while less literate DEDs tended to be in the West of the country. 

Inishcaltra South in Scariff, Co Clare and Lullymore in Edenderry near Kildare were the DEDs with the highest literacy rates of 100%. 

Out of the 20 DEDs with the lowest literacy rates, fourteen were in Connaught while there were none from Leinster. 

Thirteen out of the 20 DEDs with the lowest rates were in Galway, the highest amount for any county, while the remaining DEDs were located in Donegal (5), Kerry (1) and Mayo (1). 

Lettermore in Oughterard, Co Galway was the DED with the lowest literacy rate of 38.8%, however the county with the lowest literacy rate in 1911 was Donegal at 79.4%. 

At the time, Oughterard reportedly had a population of 1,003 who were aged nine years and over, of which 614 were illiterate.

Commenting on the publication, CSO Statistician, Eimear Crowley, said, "The CSO has today published the second release in our Stories from Census 1911 Series. A team of CSO volunteers have worked to unlock Stories from Census 1911 and today’s release looks at literacy levels in Ireland at that time and provides further insights into how people lived in 1911." 

She continued: "When we are talking about literacy rates at that time, we are referring to someone aged nine years and over who could read. Looking at findings from today’s release, we observed there were much lower levels of literacy along the Atlantic coast while higher rates of literacy tended to be centred around Tipperary, Dublin and the North East."