Mountains of Ireland
The human eye is drawn to changing topography and images of mountain scenery score highly when people are asked to rank scenic features. We have attempted to capture the degree of changing topography in a county by calculating the percentage of land area that is covered by mountains. Most geologists classify a mountain as a landform that rises at least 300 meters or more above its surrounding area and it is this definition that we have utilised in our calculations.
Wicklow is by far the most mountainous county with 27% of its area covered by mountains. It is followed by Kerry (14%), Leitrim (10%), Waterford (8%) and Dublin (7%). Longford, Meath and Westmeath are at the bottom of the list with no areas within these counties classified as mountainous.
| Rank | County | % Mountainous Area | Liveability Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27.1 | 100 | |
| 2 | 14.2 | 53 | |
| 3 | 9.9 | 36 | |
| 4 | 7.8 | 29 | |
| 5 | 7.0 | 26 | |
| 6 | 6.6 | 24 | |
| 7 | 6.3 | 23 | |
| 8 | 6.1 | 22 | |
| 9 | Cork | 5.2 | 19 |
| 10 | Laois | 4.7 | 17 |
| 11 | Mayo | 4.1 | 15 |
| 12 | Carlow | 3.9 | 14 |
| 13 | Cavan | 3.7 | 14 |
| 14 | Limerick | 3.2 | 12 |
| 15 | Louth | 2.3 | 8 |
| 16 | Wexford | 1.8 | 7 |
| 17 | Galway | 1.8 | 6 |
| 18 | Offaly | 1.6 | 6 |
| 19 | Clare | 1.1 | 4 |
| 20 | Kilkenny | 0.7 | 3 |
| 21 | Monaghan | 0.5 | 2 |
| 22 | Kildare | 0.2 | 1 |
| 23 | Roscommon | 0.2 | 1 |
| 24 | Longford | 0.0 | 0 |
| 24 | Meath | 0.0 | 0 |
| 24 | Westmeath | 0.0 | 0 |