CSO reveals the oldest and youngest areas in Donegal

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed that there is a 16-year age gap between the average age of the oldest and youngest electoral divisions in Donegal.

The island of Inishkeel, close to Portnoo, was declared as the electoral division with the oldest average age in Donegal, at over 48 years old, according to CSO statistics measured in 2023. 

Inishkeel, famed for the Inishkeel Monastic Site Monument, and home to roughly 85 people, was listed as the 11th oldest population average age nationally. 

At the opposite end of the Donegal table was Edenacarnan, north of Letterkenny, and home to nearly 2,000 people. Edenacarnan was found to have had an average population age of 32.3 years. 

Edenacarnan was also the 15th youngest population average age nationally. 

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The electoral division that had the oldest average population age was Derreen in Clare at 53.5 years, and the electoral division that had the youngest average population age was Kilbarry in Waterford.

Data provided by the CSO describes a Donegal age dynamic that suggests a younger population lives closer to Letterkenny, and an older population is more likely to live in the south or west of the county.

In the top five of electoral divisions with the youngest average population are Ballymacool, Corravaddy, Kilmacrennan, Letterkenny Rural, all areas close by to Donegal’s largest town.

Whereas Graffy, Aran, Pettigo, Dawros, Templecarn, and Rutland all make up the oldest population areas in Donegal, with an average population age of over 45. 

Letterkenny Rural was the electoral division with the highest population in the county, at 13,978, followed by Stranorlar, Donegal, Buncrana Rural, and Castlewray. 

Grousehall, a division that borders Tyrone to the north, and Fermanagh to the south, had the fewest people living in its area, at 80, followed by Inishkeel, and then Seacor with 88 residents.