Demographics

Swords has a particularly young population, even in the context of Fingal which is the youngest administrative county in the country.

Despite this, there are many households and families within Swords that have lived in the village for many years and contributed to the local community through the establishment of local businesses (e.g. Taylor and Savage families) and voluntary work through local clubs and community groups which have been a focal point in Swords for many decades.

Notwithstanding this, there has also been relatively large levels of inward migration in recent years as in 2016 approximately 24% of the population were born overseas.

Swords was identified as the second largest town in the Country and the largest town in Dublin in the 2016 Census with 39,248 residents. This represented 6.3% growth since 2011 (owing to high birth rates and inward migration) and further growth is anticipated as the Fingal Development Plan notes that Swords is envisaged to grow up to a population of 100,000.

The average age in the settlement of Swords was 33.3 years (compared to a national average of 37.4 years and average of 34.3 years in Fingal) and more than half of the families are households with children (of which approximately 39% are households with pre-adolescent children).

Households are relatively large within Swords with an average household size of 3.03 person and approximately 59% of the private households having at least three people in their house.

Approximately 23% of the population are under 15 years whilst a further 70% of the population are of working age (i.e. 15 – 64 years). This along with the numerous schools within the Study Area illustrates the need to consider and provide solutions that are child friendly as many of those using Main Street during the day are students and the working population that are travelling to/from their places of work or education via the key transport corridor along Main Street.