Census results reveal where in Donegal has the youngest and oldest average ages

Manorcunningham has been confirmed as Donegal’s youngest town in terms of average age, with Doirí Beaga the oldest.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has released the ‘Census 2022 Profile 1 – Population Distribution and Movements’ which looks at the population changes nationally and in each county since Census 2016. 

“Of those towns with a population of at least 500 people in April 2022, Manorcunningham was the youngest with an average age of 33.3 years,” reads the report. “The oldest was Doirí Beaga, with an average age of 46.1 years. Nationally, the average age was 38.8 years.”

Letterkenny was the largest town, with a population of 22,549 in April 2022, In April 2022, 69% of Donegal’s usual residents (113,828 people) were born in the county. A further 8% (13,838) were born elsewhere in the State. The remaining 22% (36,998) were born outside the State, which was up from 21% in 2016. Nationally, 20% of the usually resident population in April 2022 was born outside of the State.

Of the people who were residents in Donegal, 5,740 had moved in the year prior to Census 2022. Most of these (4,215 or 73%) moved elsewhere within the county. Nationally, 265,098 usual residents moved in the year to April 2022. Of these, 71% moved to a new home in the same county.  

“Profile 1 provides a wealth of information on population changes in our counties, towns and cities since April 2016," said Dr Tracy Clegg, Statistician in the Census Division, of the findings. "It provides detailed data on the distribution of the population across our towns and cities and their age profiles, the place of birth of the usual residents of each county, and details of population movements into, within, and out of each county since 2016. Looking at Donegal, we can see that.”