Photo: Joseph Mischyshyn · CC BY-SA 2.0Dunfanaghy is older than 99% of Irish towns: a median age of 46.8
Compared with 0.2% across Ireland’s towns, 58% of homes are holiday homes here. The share of shared households of unrelated adults stands at 1.7%. Residents who describe themselves as White Irish are more common here than in 98% of Irish towns. The 2022 Census counted 439 residents in 175 households.
A +10% change since 2016: Dunfanaghy grew faster than 62% 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.
Across Co. Donegal’s towns the median is +6%, and across Ireland’s towns +8%.
Dunfanaghy sits below 98% of Irish towns for residents aged 15 to 24 (8.9%)
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
More residents are 50–54 than any other five-year age: 8.7% of residents, 1.4 times the share across Ireland’s towns. The census found that 23% of residents are 65 or over in Dunfanaghy. As a yardstick, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 89 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Donegal 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
A lower share of residents who moved in within the year than 95% of Irish towns, at 3.9%
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
Workers here lean to professional occupations: 27%, against a typical 21%. The wider picture: 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns. The share of students among residents 15 and over stands at 8.7%.
2.4 people per household, fewer than in 86% 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.
28% of households are one person living alone (Ireland’s towns: 24%). Here, 41% of households are parents with children.
6.9% of households live in a flat or apartment, fewer than in 81% 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
The share of households without a car or van is 9.7%, against 17% across Ireland’s towns. Across the comparison, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns.
Median household income here: €43,760 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Households here have a median gross income of €43,760, 27% lower than across Ireland (€60,120). Co. Donegal’s median household income is €42,500.
A smaller share of residents with another country’s citizenship than 93% of Irish towns: 7.2%
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 35%
Citizenship · share of all residents; the bar runs to 35%
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.
Across Ireland’s towns, 22% of residents were born outside Ireland; in Dunfanaghy, 26%. The usual figure: 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns. 5.2% speak another language at home, most often French (1.1%); 1.6% speak English not well or not at all.
3% of residents speak Irish daily outside education, more than in 98% of Irish towns
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
Some 169 people here, just over two in five residents aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of daily speakers of Irish outside education is 1.1%.
A smaller share of residents who said they are Catholic than 79% of Irish towns: 62%
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: 92% of Dunfanaghy · Co. Donegal’s towns 83% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White Irish: Other White (7.2%), Irish Traveller (0.2%) and Black or Black Irish (0.2%). For residents who said they are Catholic, the comparison across Ireland’s towns is 71%. Nothing unusual on residents with no religion: 17%, close to the figure across Ireland’s towns.
Dunfanaghy: 44% of residents 15 and over are married, above 97% 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.
With unpaid carers at 7.3%, Dunfanaghy is ahead of 98% of Irish towns on that count. By way of comparison, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Degree or higher: 36% of adults
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Postgraduate: 16% of adults. Primary level or earlier: 11%, against 9.7% across Ireland’s towns.
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 Dunfanaghy’s residents
What is the population of Dunfanaghy?
Dunfanaghy had 439 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 10% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Dunfanaghy?
The median age is 46.8. 20% are under 18 and 23% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Dunfanaghy?
42% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (169 people), and 3% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Dunfanaghy?
92% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 26% were born abroad and 7.2% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Dunfanaghy?
62% are Catholic, 17% have no religion and 21% another religion; 3.2% didn’t say.
Is Dunfanaghy good for families?
41% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 20% of residents are under 18. Schools near Dunfanaghy are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Dunfanaghy?
Median gross household income in Dunfanaghy was €43,760 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).