Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 46.2: Killybegs is older than 99% of Irish towns
Compared with 17% across Ireland’s towns, 6.1% of residents said they have no religion here. Census day 2022: 1,258 residents and 510 households in Killybegs. The share of holiday homes stands at 4.8%. Few places have as many one-person households: 33% here, more than in 93% of Irish towns.
What stands out about the people of Killybegs
Older than most towns
Half of Killybegs’s residents are under 46.2 and half over; the typical median across Irish towns is 37.6. 26% are 65 or over, against 14% across Ireland’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
A +2% change since 2016: slower than 84% 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 +6% across Co. Donegal’s towns.
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 99% of Irish towns: 26%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns, against 11% in Killybegs. Across Ireland’s towns, 14% of residents are 65 or over.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Donegal 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%.
Below 90% of Irish towns: 8.3% 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
Set against 7.5% across Ireland’s towns, 6% of residents lived at another address a year earlier in Killybegs. To put it in context, 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns.
Killybegs sits below 99% of Irish towns for shared households of unrelated adults (1.4%)
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.
Here 39% of households are parents with children, where the figure across Ireland’s towns is 43%. Shared households of unrelated adults make up 4.7% across Ireland’s towns. There are 2.3 people in the average household.
Fewer households in flats than 85% of Irish towns: 5.7%
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
Here 21% of households have no car or van, where the figure across Ireland’s towns is 17%. By contrast, 5.5% of households live in a flat or apartment, less than in 85% of Irish towns, against a typical 12% across Ireland’s towns.
A median household income of €46,000 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
The median household earns €46,000 gross, 23% less than the Ireland median (€60,120). Countywide in Co. Donegal, the median is €42,500.
A lower share of residents with another country’s citizenship than 86% of Irish towns, at 8.3%
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.
16% of residents were born outside Ireland; across Ireland’s towns the figure is 22%. Residents born abroad were most often born in the UK (9%), then outside the EU and UK (3.1%). By way of comparison, 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns.
In Killybegs, Irish is spoken by 34% of 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
390 residents, 34% of those aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. In Co. Donegal, Letterkenny has the highest share (2.6%). Daily speakers of Irish outside education make up 1%, close to the figure across Ireland’s towns.
A higher White Irish share than 98% of Irish towns: 91% of residents
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: 91% of Killybegs · Co. Donegal’s towns 83% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White Irish: Other White (6.3%), Asian or Asian Irish (1.6%) and Other, including mixed (0.9%). Typically, 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. At 87%, the share of residents who said they are Catholic is higher than in 99% of Irish towns.
Married residents 15 and over make up 40% in Killybegs, more than in 87% 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.
At 6%, unpaid carers sit close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. Set beside that, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Below 93% of Irish towns: 17% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Postgraduate qualifications are held by 4.5% of adults here, while 21% stopped at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). For comparison, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher 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 Killybegs’s residents
What is the population of Killybegs?
Killybegs had 1,258 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 2% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Killybegs?
The median age is 46.2. 21% are under 18 and 26% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Killybegs?
34% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (390 people), and 1% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Killybegs?
91% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 16% were born abroad and 8.3% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Killybegs?
87% are Catholic, 6.1% have no religion and 7.1% another religion; 5.4% didn’t say.
Is Killybegs good for families?
39% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 21% of residents are under 18. Schools near Killybegs are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Killybegs?
Median gross household income in Killybegs was €46,000 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).