Photo: Sarah777 · CC BY-SA 2.0In Drumshanbo, 7.4% of homes are holiday homes, more than in 98% of Irish towns
Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents with no religion is 17%; Drumshanbo has 10%. Locally, 11% of residents are aged 15 to 24. The 2022 Census counted 1,240 residents in 465 households.
What stands out about the people of Drumshanbo
Many older residents
19% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 86% of Irish towns; 3.9% are 80 or over, and 30% of households are one person living alone. Ages ↓
Growing faster than most
Drumshanbo went from about 1,060 people in 2016 to 1,240 in 2022, +18%: faster growth than in 85% of Irish towns. Population change ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
Drumshanbo grew +18% from 2016 to 2022, faster than 85% 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 +10% across Co. Leitrim’s towns.
19% of residents are 65 or over, a share 86% of Irish towns don’t reach
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Half of Drumshanbo’s residents are over 39.2, older than in just over two thirds of Irish towns. To put it in context, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns. In Mohill, the oldest of Co. Leitrim’s towns by this measure, it is 26%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 88 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Leitrim 51.6%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Students among residents 15 and over: 8.4%, a lower share than 89% 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
Among the working population, process, plant and machine operatives make up 13%, against a typical 7.8%. Set beside that, 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year: 6.4% of the total.
More people live alone than in 79% of Irish towns: 30% of households
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Leitrim’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
On shared households of unrelated adults, 3.9% here is much the same as across Ireland’s towns. By way of comparison, 24% of households are one person living alone across Ireland’s towns. A household here holds 2.6 people on average.
Fewer flats than 96% of Irish towns: 2.6% of households
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
Households without a car or van: 12% here and 17% across Ireland’s towns.
€42,800 a year is the median household income here
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
€42,800 a year before tax puts the median household 29% below Ireland (€60,120). Co. Leitrim’s median household income is €45,270.
A smaller share of residents with another country’s citizenship than 62% of Irish towns: 13%
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 (8.7%) and outside the EU and UK (7.1%). Measured more widely, 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns. 23% of residents were born outside Ireland, against 22% across Ireland’s towns.
Irish speakers: 38% of Drumshanbo’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
No town in Co. Leitrim beats Ballinamore (1.8%). Little separates the share of daily speakers of Irish outside education here, 1.1%, from the figure across Ireland’s towns.
Drumshanbo: 78% of residents said they are Catholic, above 84% 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: 82% of Drumshanbo · Co. Leitrim’s towns 80% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
82% of residents describe themselves as White Irish, against 78% across Ireland’s towns. Across Ireland’s towns, 71% of residents said they are Catholic. Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (13%), Other, including mixed (3.2%) and Asian or Asian Irish (1.5%).
37% of residents 15 and over are married, more than in 70% 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.
Unpaid carers make up 6.7%, against 5.4% across Ireland’s towns. As a reference point, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Below 76% of Irish towns: 26% 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
Across Ireland’s towns, 9.7% of adults finished at primary level or earlier; in Drumshanbo, 14%, and 7.3% hold a postgraduate qualification. The benchmark for adults with a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns: 36%.
Drumshanbo sits below 3 of its 4 closest neighbours on median age
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drumshanbo | 1,240 | — | 39.2 | 19% | 44% |
| Carrick-On-Shannon | 4,743 | 11.3 km | 37.3 | 14% | 38% |
| Ballinamore | 1,112 | 15.4 km | 39.3 | 20% | 36% |
| Mohill | 1,027 | 17.6 km | 44.3 | 26% | 38% |
| Boyle | 2,915 | 18.9 km | 43.8 | 25% | 37% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Leitrim’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Co. Leitrim has fewer than five towns of 2,500 or more, so its figure is the median of its towns of 1,000 or more; the national figure is the median of 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 Drumshanbo’s residents
What is the population of Drumshanbo?
Drumshanbo had 1,240 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 18% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Drumshanbo?
The median age is 39.2. 27% are under 18 and 19% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Drumshanbo?
38% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (410 people), and 1.1% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Drumshanbo?
82% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 23% were born abroad and 13% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Drumshanbo?
78% are Catholic, 10% have no religion and 12% another religion; 8% didn’t say.
Is Drumshanbo good for families?
44% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 27% of residents are under 18. Schools near Drumshanbo are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Drumshanbo?
Median gross household income in Drumshanbo was €42,800 in 2022, against €45,270 across Co. Leitrim 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).