BY KATE HEANEY
DONEGAL has lost its tag as having the oldest population in Ireland. According to census figures released yesterday (Thursday) Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim now have higher percentages of elderly.
The census also showed that the population of Donegal North East has grown at almost twice the rate of Donegal South West.
The population of the county has grown since the last census in 2006 reflecting the national trend.
“This is Ireland” details highlights from the 2011 Census carried out on the night of April 10, 2011.
Donegal reflected that national trend with the population in the county growing to 161,137 in 2011 compared with 147,264 in 2006 at the last census.
The percentage of the elderly population in the county living alone is 29.9 per cent to 29.3 per cent.
Those other counties percentage ranged from 29 .6 per cent to 34 per cent.
There were almost 24,000 vacant homes across Donegal on Census night according to figures released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
With 23,996 vacant houses, flats and holiday homes, Donegal had the second highest vacancy rate in Ireland at 29 per cent.
Our neighbours Leitrim had the highest overall rate with over 30 percent of homes vacant.