The Central Statistics Office has said this is down to lower levels of urbanisation in these counties.
Carlow, Mayo and Roscommon have the lowest percentage of people staying within 10km of home over a seven-day period last month, new Covid-19 data shows.
Produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Staying Local Indicator (SLI) provides daily estimated percentages of county populations that have stayed within 10km of home, averaged over the previous seven days.
The SLI is based on statistical analysis of anonymised, aggregated mobile phone activity records.
According to the new figures – for the week ending 31 March, 2021 – Roscommon had the lowest percentage of people staying within 10km of home at 49.4%, followed by Carlow with 49.5% and Mayo with 50.1%,
Rounding out the bottom five counties were Tipperary with 50.2% and Leitrim with 51%.
Dublin, meanwhile, continues to be the county with the highest percentage of the population staying local at 77.9%.
Other counties with high numbers staying within 10km of home are Louth (64%), Wicklow (63.4%), Waterford (62.6%) and Limerick (62.3%).
Overall, an estimated 63.6% of the population stayed local during the seven-day period, though 21 counties showed increases in the numbers of people moving beyond 10km.
In a statement, the CSO said: “Propensity to stay within 10km of residence tends to differ by county, as movement is impacted by local circumstances and conditions, such as access to services and levels of urbanisation.
“For example, Dublin, with a high level of urbanisation, consistently shows the highest percentage of persons staying local, while Carlow and Roscommon, with relatively lower levels of urbanisation, are among the counties with the lowest percentage of persons staying within 10km of home. ”
Read the CSO’s report here.
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