Open Geodemographics: Classification of Small Areas, Ireland 2016

Geodemographics is a tool to summarize the characteristics of spatial units based on socio-economic data. It has been used over several decades to classify the characteristics of areas based on the similarities in such data, generally working by identifying groups or clusters of similar areas. It has seen use in the academic and private sectors but mostly became popular by 1980s for market research purposes – this rise in use drew attention to many issues that needed to be addressed in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a geodemographic classification for the smallest scale administrative units in Ireland (Small Areas) based on the latest 2016 census population data. A further aim is to support reproducible research by following the methodology of an earlier study for the 2011 Census and to bring up the opportunity to compare the cluster results between the 2011 and 2016 census data. The comparison output provides useful insights for policy discussions in the Irish context. One of the other focal points of this study is to bring some clarity regarding some criticisms of geodemographics from an academic perspective. The paper also argues for the use of open data, open source software and supports open analysis.