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Big increase in Inishowen
population
08.07.11
by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent
THE census figures released last week reveal that
the population of Inishowen has grown to almost
40,000.
And areas adjacent to Derry city have recorded the
highest rates of growth in the peninsula.
At Census night on April 10, 39,919 people were
enumerated in the Inishowen electoral area, which
runs from Newtown in the south to Malin Head in the
north.
That marked a 6.5% increase on 2006, when 2,422
fewer people were counted in the Inishowen area.
The census breaks Inishowen into 31 district
electoral divisions (DEDs), and 30 of those show
population growth. Only Carthage (Glengad) recorded
a population loss in the five years between 2006 and
2011, falling by 46 people (4.6%) from 995 to 949.
Some of the highest rates of growth were in the DEDs
adjacent to Derry city, with huge increases recorded
in Birdstown (Bridgend/Burnfoot)(28.8%), Kilderry
(Muff)(26.3%), Whitecastle (Quigley’s Point)(22.7%)
and Killea (20.2%). Those four DEDs alone account
for 1,267 people, just over half of Inishowen’s
overall increase.
Inishowen’s towns and their hinterlands also
recorded strong growth.
While the population of Buncrana remained fairly
static, increasing by just 1%, the Buncrana rural
area increased by 27.1%, or 798 people. Carndonagh’s
population grew by 22.5% from 1,931 in 2006 to 2,366
in 2011. |
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Carndonagh where the population has
grown by 22.5% to 2,366 people. |
That puts Carn just
ahead of Moville, where the population grew by 7.5%
to 2,338. Incidentally, Moville’s neighbouring area
of Greencastle recorded 20% growth, with the
population growing from 807 in 2006 to 968 last
April.
Newtown, Inishowen’s fourth largest town, grew by
14% to 976 residents.
County wide, Donegal’s population grew by 9.3% and
now stands at 160,927, up from 147,264 in 2006. That
means Donegal is the sixth most populous county in
the Republic, behind Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway,
Kildare and Meath.
Donegal’s population hit its lowest point in 1971
when just 108,344 people were recorded as living
here. The population has been increasing steadily
since then and has grown by almost 50% over the past
40 years.
Nationally, the population of the Republic as a
whole grew by 8.1% from 4.23 million in 2006 to 4.58
million in 2011. |
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