Here's what Census 2022 showed about Donegal's population

Donegal's population showed a small increase with a large percentage – higher than the national average - of the county identifying as being Roman Catholic.

Census 2022 was the 26th census held since 1841 and counted the number of people present in Ireland on Sunday, April 3, 2022.

On Census night, the population of Ireland was 5,149,139, an increase of 387,274 people since April 2016 This is the first time since the 1840s that Ireland's population is over 5 million.

The figures were released on Tuesday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Donegal showed one of the smallest increases in population since 2016, rising by five per cent with 166,321 people living in the county.

The average age of the population in Donegal was 40.1, up from 36.7 in 2011 and from 38.5 in Census 2016.

Donegal still has a high portion of its population identifying as Roman Catholics, accounting for 76.6 per cent of the population.

Nationally, the total number of Roman Catholics fell by 180,783, dropping to 69 per cent of the country.

In Donegal, 8.1 per cent of the population recorded no religion.

Donegal's average household size decreased to an average of 2.66 – higher than the European average of 2.20 and up from 2.69 in Census 2016. Donegal's was one of the largest decreases in the last six years.

Age dependency - a ratio calculated by comparing the proportion of people both under 15 and over 64 years with the working age population – rose to 61.6 from 60.5 in the previous census.

Just shy of 50 per cent of the population in Donegal who were aged 15 and over – 49.6 per cent – were married with 38.4 per cent recorded as being single, 6.2 per cent separated or divorced and 5.8 per cent were widowed.

A total of 6.4 per cent of the Donegal population identified as unpaid carers with 22.9 per cent recording that they were experiencing a long-lasting condition or difficulty.

The census unemployment rate declined in every county between 2016 and 2022. In Donegal the rate fell to 10.6 per cent from 18 per cent at the last census having stood as high as 26.2 per cent in 2011.

Donegal had, alongside May, the lowest rate of labour force participation, at 57 per cent, among people aged 15 and over.

Of those working in Donegal, a total of 15,350 said they worked from home while 45,357 said they never worked from home. Some 7,270 participants in the county did not record whether they worked remotely.

A fifth of the Irish speakers in Donegal spoke the language 'very well' the highest percentage at county level recorded in the State.

There were 45.9 per cent of the Irish speaking population said they spoke the language 'not well'.

A total of 2,822 permanent private homes in Donegal now have solar renewable energy, a figure that represents 4.6 per cent of such dwellings in the county.

There are 7,777 of the 61,575 permanent private households in Donegal that do not have internet connectivity.

A total of 46,882 have broadband connectivity – up from 36,127 in 2016 - with a further 2,830 listed as having 'other internet connectivity'.

There are now 76.1 per cent of the private homes in Donegal connected to the internet, up from 62 per cent in Census 2016.