Mullaghamore and Ballyshannon have some of the oldest people in the region while Carney in county Sligo has one of the youngest populations.
Those are some of the details emerging from the latest figures from last year’s census which have been published today.
The most striking trend in this region is that the number of young people in the North West region between the age of 19 and 24 is dropping dramatically.
Today’s figures show that the biggest drop in the number of young people between 19 and 24 years old has been in Sligo and Donegal.
There’s been a 16% drop in this age bracket in each county since the 2011 census.
In Leitrim there was an 11% drop.
Nationally, this demographic is also falling with a 6% decline.
Today’s figures also confirm that we have an older population.
Leitim has the oldest population in this region with an average age of nearly 40 now – followed by Sligo where the average age is 39 – and it’s 38 in Donegal.
However, Brendan Murphy of the CSO told Ocean FM today that there are variations in local towns with Mullaghmore having one of the oldest average age of 44 while it’s less than 30 years old in Carney in county Sligo:
There is a direct link between the lower number of younger people in this region and the higher dependency rates which are much higher than the national average here.
They account for the number of people ages under 14 and over 65 relying on the working population.
Leitrim has the highest rate at over 62%, it’s over 60% in Donegal and it’s 57% in Sligo.
