New figures released on Thursday by Ireland’s Central Statistics Office from the 2011 census show that a staggering 40 percent of people under 25 years old were unemployed at the time of the census.

The Irish Times reports on the CSO’s findings, derived from last year’s census. It was determined that in April 2011, more than 82,000 people between the ages of 15 and 24 were not working.

The 82,000 so-called ‘youths’ unemployed at the time of the census showed a sharp 74 percent increase in the rate of youth unemployment between the 2006 and 2011 censuses.

The census showed that of the 82,000 unemployed last year, nearly 70,000 had completed their education. Variations according to education level, however, were evident. The largest variation came, of course, between the 70 percent unemployed who only had a primary education, and the much smaller 18 percent who had completed third level education.

The overall unemployment rate more than doubled from 8.5 percent in 2006 to 19 percent in 2011, presumably as a result of the end of the Celtic Tiger era in Ireland.

Donegal and Limerick City proved to have the highest percentage of unemployment with around 50 percent each. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the lowest youth unemployment rate with 27 percent, with Fingal, Co Cork and Galway City having similar rates.

The rate of unemployment among foreign nationals in 2011 stood at 22 percent, a higher rate when compared with the unemployment rate of 18.5 per cent among Irish people. Accordingly, those who spoke English had a lower rate of unemployment than those who had an inferior ability or no ability to speak English.

Combined with people looking for their first job, the total number out of work stood at 424,843 in April 2011.