Hinduism in the Republic of Ireland

Hindus in Ireland

Total population
33,043 (2022); 0.7% of total population
Regions with significant populations
All Over Ireland
Religions
Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Indians in Ireland and Hindus

For Hinduism in the northern part of Ireland, see Hinduism in Northern Ireland.

Hinduism is a minority religion in Ireland, followed by 0.7% of the country's population.^[1][2][3] It is also the second fastest-growing religions by percentage in Ireland.^[4] There are also a small number of recognised temples in the country.

Demographics

Hindus in Ireland

Year	Percent	Increase
1991	0.03%	+0.08%
2002	0.08%	+0.05%
2006	0.14%	+0.06%
2011	0.23%	+0.09%
2016	0.30%	+0.07%
2022	0.70%	+0.40%

Historical Hindu Population

Year	Pop.	±%
1991	953	—
2002	3,099	+225.2%
2006	6,082	+96.3%
2011	10,688	+75.7%
2016	14,300	+33.8%
2022	33,043	+131.1%

The 2022 Irish Census recorded 33,043 Hindu residents in Ireland, making up 0.70% of the population.^[1][5][6][2]

In the 2022 Irish Census, Hinduism grew by 131% to surpass 33,000 people.^[4] In 2016, the Hindu population made up 0.3% of the total Irish population, growing 10-fold as a share of the population in 25 years (from the 1991 census to the 2016 census). This made Hinduism the 7th largest Religion, ahead of Pentecostal.^[2]

According to the 2016 census, there are 87 Hare Krishnas in Ireland,^[7] down from 91 Hare Krishna's in 2011 census.^[8]

Age and sex

Hindus are younger than the general population with an average age for men of 29.5 and for women 27.3 compared with 36.7 and 38.0 for the general population. There were 132 Hindu men for every 100 Hindu women in 2016, a ratio which has fallen from 157 per 100 ten years earlier.^[9]

Profession and Social class

Just over half (50.6%) of Hindus at work were in the broad occupational category 'professional'. Of all Hindus workers 15.0 per cent were programmers and software development professionals. Hindus (18.4%) were more concentrated in the higher social classes than the general population(8.1%) while 40.5 per cent lived in households classified to the managerial or technical class. Fewer relative numbers were found in the skilled manual, semi-skilled and unskilled occupations than for the general population (16.1% and 28.2% respectively).^[9]

Nationality and ethnicity

Ethnicity of Hindus (excluding Hare Krishnas)[10]
Ethnicity			Percent
Asian (other than Chinese)			79.5%
Mixed			15.42%
White Irish			1.34%
Black			1.92%
Other White			0.7%
Not stated			1.1%

In all 41.7 per cent of Hindus were of Indian nationality. This was followed very closely by Irish (41.6%), Mauritian (6.9%) and Nepalese (3.0%). Of the Hindus with Irish nationality (5,676 persons), 35.1 per cent were born in Ireland.^[9]

The census results show that 79.5 per cent of Hindus declared themselves to be of Asian (other than Chinese) ethnicity, compared with 80.4 per cent in 2011.

Hindu temples

The following is a list of known Hindu temples in the Republic of Ireland.

Donegal

Temples in Donegal:

• Hindu Temple and Indian Community Centre, Letterkenny, County Donegal^[11]

Dublin

Temples in Dublin:

• Nivedita House (Ramakrishna Math and Mission), Dublin^[12]
• Hare Krishna Cultural Centre (ISKCON), Dublin 1.^[13]
• Vinayaka Temple, Kingswood, Dublin 24.^[14]
• Vedic Hindu Cultural Centre Ireland Temple, Unit 2D, Sunbury Industrial Estate, Ballymount Rd Lower, Walkinstown, Dublin 12.^[15]

Meath

Temples in Meath:

• B.A.P.S. Swaminarayan Sanstha, Enfield, County Meath.^[16]

See also

• Religion in the Republic of Ireland
• Hinduism in Northern Ireland
• Hinduism in the United Kingdom
• Hinduism in England
• Hinduism in Scotland
• Hinduism in Wales
• Hinduism in the West
• Hindu eschatology

References

1. "Census figures show average age rising to 38.8". rte.ie. 30 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
2. "8. Religion" (PDF). Population 2017. Central Statistics Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 April 2017.
3. "Religions in Ireland". globalreligiousfutures.org. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
4. Ghoshal, Arkadev (7 April 2017). "Hinduism one of the fastest growing religions in Ireland, outpacing Islam". International Business Times, India Edition. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
5. Patsy McGarry (30 March 2012). "Ireland remains overwhelmingly Catholic". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0791-5144. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
6. Gillmor, Desmond A. (2006). "Changing religions in the Republic of Ireland, 1991–2002". Irish Geography. 39 (2): 111–128. doi:10.1080/00750770609555871. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017.
7. "Census finds 2,000 devotees to Star Wars 'Jedi' religion". Independent.ie. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
8. https://statbank.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/saveselections.asp ^{[permanent dead link‍]}
9. "Religion - Non-Christian". cso.ie/en. Central Statistics Office, Government of Ireland. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2019. Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Archived 2017-10-16 at the Wayback Machine.
10. "Diagram". statbank.cso.ie. Archived from the original on 31 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
11. "INDIAN COMMUNITY CENTRE - Letterkenny, Co. Donegal". Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
12. "Éire Vedanta Society". rkmireland.org. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
13. "History - Krishna Ireland Dublin Temple". Dublin Krishna Temple. Archived from the original on 23 November 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
14. "Ireland Ananda Sidhi Vinayaka Temple". www.ivt.ie. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
15. "Essence of Hinduism | Hindu". Hindu.ie. Archived from the original on 30 May 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
16. "BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir". Archived from the original on 11 June 2013.