Socio Economic Profile of the North West, November 2006

The North West is a Cross Border Region which includes the local authority areas of Derry, Strabane, Magherafelt and Limavady in Northern Ireland and Donegal in Ireland.  The remainder of this section will explore the North West socio economic characteristics.  The NWRCBG have incorporated statistical analysis for Magherafelt where appropriate and where statistics were available. However, it must be noted that comparable figures were difficult to incorporate to present an analysis of the North West Region as a whole due to problems associated with comparison and the collation of statistics in differential time frames.

1.2       Population

In 2006, the population of the North West was some 328,600, an increase of 12.7% from 1991 . Population growth rates are lower than average for the Republic of Ireland (20%), but considerably higher than those seen in Northern Ireland over the same period (7%).  At a local level, Limavady saw the highest rates of growth in the region.

Population growth 1991-2006

Council Area

Population 1991

Population 2002

Population 2006

% Change 1991-2006

Derry

97,597

106,193

108,002

10.7%

Donegal

128,117

137,575

146,959

14.7%

Limavady

29,606

33,210

34,504

16.5%

Strabane

36,164

38,407

39,149

8.3%

North West

291,544

315,193

328,614

12.7%

Northern Ireland

1,607,295

1,696,641

1,720,464

7.0%

Rep. of Ireland

3,525,719

3,917,203

4,234,925

20.1%

Source: CSO 2002, 2006; NIRA 2002 (estimates).

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