Literal question
6. What is your place of birth?
Give the place where your mother lived at the time of your birth.
If Ireland (including Northern Ireland), write in the county. ____
If elsewhere abroad, write in the country. ____
Interviewer instructions
Question 6-10. The purpose of questions 6 - 10 is to study migration patterns, both short-term and long-term. The resulting information will give us a picture of where people are moving to and from and their characteristics in terms of age, sex, education, occupation etc.
Comparing a person's place of birth (question 6) and his or her current place of usual residence (question 7) gives an indication of the extent of longer term migration.
[Examples omitted.]
Location (question 7) is a key characteristic that is used with other data to build an accurate picture of our population. It is the basis for the annual population estimates and for population projections. It is also used to determine changes to electoral boundaries.
By comparing a person's usual residence one year before the Census (question 8) and their residence at Census time (question 7), we get an indication of the extent to which people change residence. The responses also provide data on the extent of internal migration within Ireland.
