Photo: Suzanne Mischyshyn · CC BY-SA 2.0A higher share of holiday homes than 99% of Irish towns, at 34%
The share of residents who said they are Catholic tops 97% of Irish towns: 84%. The census found that 30% of households are parents with children in Doonbeg. 31% of households are one person living alone, a higher share than in 88% of Irish towns. The 2022 Census counted 279 residents in 112 households.
Since 2016, Doonbeg has changed by +3%, slower than 77% of Irish towns
Residents at the 2016 and 2022 censuses, on 2022 boundaries, and the change beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Change, 2016 to 2022
CSO publishes yearly population estimates for counties and regions, not towns, so the trend is two censuses rather than a line; 2016 ages aren’t on 2022 boundaries, so there is no change by age.
Elsewhere, the median is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +8% across Co. Clare’s towns.
Doonbeg ranks above 94% of Irish towns on residents aged 65 and over: 22%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The figure for residents aged 15 to 24 is 10% in Doonbeg and 12% across Ireland’s towns. The median age in the town is 41.2, higher than in 86% of Irish towns. As a yardstick, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Clare 51.5%, Ireland 51.2%.
Students among residents 15 and over: 5.8%, a lower share than 99% of Irish towns
CSO’s social classes (everyone, by their own or their family’s occupation), the occupations of those at work, and where residents lived a year before the Census.
Residents by social class · all residents
Where residents lived a year earlier
Residents who lived somewhere else a year earlier. The bar runs to 25%.
Workers by occupation · residents at work
Work here tilts toward skilled trades, at 23% against a typical 11%. On residents who moved in within the year, Doonbeg sits lower than 69% of Irish towns: 6.3%. Measured more widely, 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns.
2.5 people per household, fewer than in 77% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Clare’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
In Doonbeg, 3.6% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, beside 4.7% across Ireland’s towns.
A smaller share of households in flats than 98% of Irish towns: 1.8%
Home types, cars and the internet, by household. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
Internet at home · share of households
Connected households: 84% on broadband; 14% offline (typical: 7.6%). To put it in context, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns. On the census count, 13% of households have no car or van.
Half of households earn more than €44,380 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Gross household income has a median of €44,380 a year here, 26% below Ireland (€60,120). Countywide in Co. Clare, the median is €54,650.
Residents born outside Ireland make up 19% in Doonbeg, less than in 65% of Irish towns
Place of birth and citizenship as CSO asks them: born abroad includes Irish citizens born abroad.
Born abroad, by birthplace · share of all residents; the bar runs to 30%
Citizenship · share of all residents; the bar runs to 30%
Citizens of another country, by citizenship; CSO counts dual Irish citizens as Irish.
Other languages · share of all residents
CSO’s small-area tables don’t give the year people arrived.
At home, 11% use another language, chiefly Polish (6.1%), and 1.1% speak English not well or not at all. Compared with other places, residents with another country’s citizenship are scarce here: 15%, fewer than in just over half of Irish towns. To put it in context, 22% of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns.
A lower share of daily speakers of Irish outside education than 99% of Irish towns, at 0.4%
Residents aged 3 and over who can speak Irish, and how often they speak it outside education (CSO).
Irish speakers · residents aged 3 and over
Top of Co. Clare: Ennis, at 1.6%. Against that, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
Doonbeg ranks above 79% of Irish towns on residents who describe themselves as White Irish: 85%
Ethnic or cultural background and religion, in CSO’s categories, as people described themselves.
Ethnic groups other than White Irish · all residents
White Irish, not charted: 85% of Doonbeg · Co. Clare’s towns 82% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
With residents with no religion at 14%, Doonbeg is behind 72% of Irish towns on that count. As a yardstick, 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (13%), Other, including mixed (2%) and Black or Black Irish (0.4%).
9% of residents give unpaid care, more than in 99% of Irish towns
Marital status of residents 15 and over, and unpaid carers.
Partnership status · residents 15 and over
The small-area tables count carers, not their hours of care.
Married residents 15 and over: 37% here and 34% across Ireland’s towns. On average, 5.4% of residents give unpaid care across Ireland’s towns.
Adults with a degree or higher make up 24% in Doonbeg, less than in 79% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
At the top, 7.8% of adults have a postgraduate qualification; at the other end, 17% finished at primary level or earlier, against 9.7% across Ireland’s towns. Across Ireland’s towns, adults with a degree or higher come to 36%.
The towns around Doonbeg are all older
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Clare’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Clare’s towns of 2,500 or more and over the Irish towns of 2,500 or more (city totals left out). Percentiles are within Ireland only.
- The earlier population is an estimate. Towns had no official 2016 count on today’s boundaries, so the 2016 figure is CSO’s electoral-division count shared out by where people lived in 2022: read a small town in a large rural division loosely.
- What these tables don’t give. The small-area tables give no year of arrival and no hours of care, and a town’s electoral divisions run past its edge, so the page doesn’t split a town into named areas (a city lists its neighbourhoods).
- The census’s own words. Born abroad, citizenship, ethnic or cultural background and religion are CSO’s questions and categories; the page compares them with other towns and never labels a town by them.
Questions about Doonbeg’s residents
What is the population of Doonbeg?
Doonbeg had 279 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 3% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Doonbeg?
The median age is 41.2. 22% are under 18 and 22% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Doonbeg?
47% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (108 people), and 0.4% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Doonbeg?
85% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 19% were born abroad and 15% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Doonbeg?
84% are Catholic, 14% have no religion and 2% another religion; 10% didn’t say.
Is Doonbeg good for families?
30% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 22% of residents are under 18. Schools near Doonbeg are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Doonbeg?
Median gross household income in Doonbeg was €44,380 in 2022, against €54,650 across Co. Clare and €60,120 for Ireland.
Sources: CSO, Census of Population 2022, Small Area Population Statistics · CSO PxStat FP009 (2016 by electoral division) · CSO GPIIA, household income 2022. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).