MORE THAN a quarter of homes in Co Donegal are empty, according to new statistics obtained in the last census.
And people in the county have the lowest disposable income of any county in Ireland.
The Regional Quality of Life report from the Central Statistics Office compares lifestyle, housing, health, education and economic activity across the country.
The study recorded nearly 40% of people in the Border counties including Donegal have a medical card and no private health insurance.
This compares to 25% in Dublin.
The house vacancy rate in Donegal was 28%, the second worst in Ireland – behind Leitrim at 30%.
Nationally, 22% of people finished their full-time education at 15-17 years of age, varying from over a quarter in the South-East and Border regions to under 20% in Dublin.
The CSO report also identified low voter rates with turnout in the Border region for the children’s referendum as low as 28% compared to 37% in the capital.
In all urban areas there were more women than men, whereas in all rural areas there were more men than women.
Leitrim had the highest proportion of persons aged 65 and over living alone, compared to the lowest in Fingal.
Longford has one of the highest rates of foreigners and immigrants with 14.1% of the county’s population non-Irish, while Donegal at 8.1% had the lowest proportion.
At county level, disposable income per person was lowest in Donegal at 83% of the national average or €16,106. This was 5k less than people in Dublin.
There were 87 Blue Flag beaches in 2012, with Donegal, Kerry, Mayo and Cork accounting for over half of these.
The full report is here
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