Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in flats: 1.9%, a lower share than 97% of Irish towns
The share of one-person households is 35%, against 24% across Ireland’s towns. Meanwhile, 11% of residents said they have no religion, fewer than in 89% of Irish towns. There were 104 households in Ballintra at the 2022 Census, home to 242 residents. Here, a fifth of residents are 65 or over.
Since 2016, Ballintra has grown +13%, faster than 78% 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.
Medians for comparison: +8% across Ireland’s towns; +6% across Co. Donegal’s towns.
Only 9.1% of residents are aged 15 to 24 in Ballintra
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
With a median age of 39.1, Ballintra is older than 68% of Irish towns. On average, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns. In Donegal, the oldest of Co. Donegal’s towns by this measure, it is 21%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Donegal 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%.
Below 99% of Irish towns: 5.8% of residents 15 and over are students
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
Among workers, skilled trades stand out: 23%, against a typical 11%. Here, 6.3% of residents lived at another address a year earlier. As a yardstick, 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns.
2.3 people per household, fewer than in 93% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Donegal’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Households of parents with children: 36% here and 43% across Ireland’s towns. Few places have as many shared households of unrelated adults: 5.8% here, more than in 61% of Irish towns.
2.8% of homes are holiday homes, more than in 93% of Irish towns
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
75% have broadband at home and 22% no internet at all (typical: 7.6%). Households without a car or van account for 15%. The benchmark for holiday homes across Ireland’s towns: 0.2%.
Median gross household income: €41,130 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of households are below €41,130 a year before tax: 32% under the Ireland median (€60,120). Countywide, Co. Donegal has a median of €42,500.
Ballintra sits below 99% of Irish towns for residents with another country’s citizenship (2.6%)
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.
The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in the UK (11%) and outside the EU and UK (1.7%). Against that, 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns. Residents born outside Ireland are rarer here than in 88% of Irish towns.
Irish speakers: 31% of Ballintra’s residents
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
Daily speakers of Irish outside education are rarer here than in 99% of Irish towns. The ability to speak Irish extends to 66 residents (31% of those aged 3 and over).
Residents who describe themselves as White Irish make up 94% in Ballintra, more than in 99% of Irish towns
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: 94% of Ballintra · Co. Donegal’s towns 83% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
By its share of residents who said they are Catholic (74%), Ballintra is above two thirds of Irish towns. Typically, 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (3.1%), Asian or Asian Irish (2.2%) and Other, including mixed (0.9%).
Ballintra ranks below 74% of Irish towns on married residents 15 and over: 31%
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.
Unpaid carers are about as common here as across Ireland’s towns, at 5%. As a yardstick, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Adults with a degree or higher: 19%, a lower share than 91% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
6.7% of Ballintra’s adults hold a postgraduate qualification, and 19% finished their education at primary level or earlier (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%).
Ballintra is younger than 2 of its 4 nearest neighbours
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballintra | 242 | — | 39.1 | 20% | 36% |
| Donegal | 2,749 | 8.0 km | 41.2 | 21% | 37% |
| Ballyshannon | 2,246 | 9.7 km | 45 | 25% | 35% |
| Bundoran | 2,599 | 15.6 km | 38.4 | 16% | 36% |
| Kinlough | 1,196 | 18.5 km | 35.2 | 13% | 49% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Donegal’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Donegal’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 Ballintra’s residents
What is the population of Ballintra?
Ballintra had 242 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 13% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ballintra?
The median age is 39.1. 24% are under 18 and 20% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ballintra?
31% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (66 people), and 0% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ballintra?
94% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 14% were born abroad and 2.6% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ballintra?
74% are Catholic, 11% have no religion and 15% another religion; 6.2% didn’t say.
Is Ballintra good for families?
36% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 24% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ballintra are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ballintra?
Median gross household income in Ballintra was €41,130 in 2022, against €42,500 across Co. Donegal 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).