Statistical Yearbook Of Ireland 2010

Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2010 published today
World Statistics Day, 20.10.2010

The Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2010 is published today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Today is also the first World Statistics Day, designated by the United Nations to celebrate the importance of official statistics in our society. The Yearbook presents a comprehensive picture of Ireland by providing detailed information, tables and graphs across a wide range of topics. These include the population, births, deaths, labour force, education, health, crime, the economy, agriculture, industry, construction, services, prices, earnings, housing, transport, tourism, and the environment.

People

• The 2006 population census enumerated 4.240 million people, an increase of 8.2% on the 2002 census. In the three years to 2009, the population rose by a further 5.2% to 4.459 million.

• The number of births has risen fairly steadily since 2001. In 2009 there were 74,278 births, and a third of these were outside marriage. As there were only 28,898 deaths, the natural increase, the excess of births over deaths, in 2009 was 45,380.

• The total number of cohabiting couples, by far the fastest-growing type of family unit, rose from 77,600 in 2002 to 121,800 in 2006.

• The most popular babies’ names in 2009 were Jack and Sophie.

Work

• Employment fell from 2.1 million in 2008 to 1.9 million in 2009, the first major fall in 16 years.

• The number of unemployed people more than doubled between 2008 and 2009. There were 264,600 people unemployed in 2009, compared with 126,700 in 2008 and a low of 69,400 in 2001.

• A third of a million days were lost due to industrial disputes in 2009, compared to only 4,000 in 2008. The 2009 figure was the highest in 25 years.

• In the 4th quarter of 2009, average weekly earnings were €716, down 0.6% on a year earlier. As average hourly earnings increased by 0.9%, the drop in weekly earnings was driven by a drop in hours worked.

Economy and Finance

• GNP (at constant prices) fell 10.7% in 2009. This followed a fall of 3.5% in 2008.

• National Debt as a percentage of GDP fell consistently from 87.7% in 1990 to a low of 19.8% in 2007. But it rose to 28.0% in 2008 and to 47.1% in 2009.

• The Consumer Price Index fell by 4.5% in 2009 following a rise of 4.1% the year before.

• Exports fell from €92.7bn in 2001 to €83.5bn in 2009. Over the same period, imports fell from €57.4bn to €44.8bn.

Social Conditions, Health and Education

• Social welfare expenditure amounted to 15.6% of Gross national income in 2009. Ten years previously it was 8.2%.

• 30,110 new cancer cases were diagnosed in 2008, 15% higher than in 2005.

• At age 20, 63% of females and 48% of males were in full-time education in 2008/09.

Building and Construction

• Between 2008 and 2009, the volume of production in building and construction fell by 37%, and the volume of production in residential building fell by 58%.

• The number of planning permissions granted for new dwellings fell by 41% to 10,380 between 2008 and 2009.

Services and Distribution

• Retail sales fell by 14% in volume and 18% in value in 2009.

• The volume of Motor Trade decreased by 43% in 2009, the largest annual decrease since records began.

Agriculture

• In the 10 years to 2009, farm input prices rose by 51.1%, but output prices rose by only 9.6%.

• The total area farmed in 2009 was 4.2 million hectares. Of this, pasture accounted for a half and silage for a quarter.

• The remainder consisted of rough grazing (11%), crops, fruit and horticulture (10%) and hay (5%).

• In June 2009 there were 6.7 million cattle, 4.8 million sheep and 1.5 million pigs.

Tourism and Transport

• Overseas visits to Ireland fell by 11.6% to 6,927,000 in 2009 compared to 2008. Total spending by these visitors was down by 19% to €3,109m.

• Irish residents made 7,047,000 trips abroad in 2009, 10% fewer than in 2008. Total expenditure (excluding fares) fell by 11% to €6,148m.

• There were 63% fewer new private cars licensed for the first time in 2009 compared to 2008.

The CSO wishes to thank all the departments, agencies and individuals who have helped in supplying data for the Yearbook, including those in Northern Ireland who have provided material for the Appendix.

The full text of the Statistical Yearbook is available free of charge on the CSO website at:

http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/statistical_yearbook_ireland_2010.htm

The Statistical Yearbook may be purchased from:

The Central Statistics Office, Information Section, Skehard Road, Cork

Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2

or through any bookseller

For further information, contact: Eamonn Dorney 021 - 4535036 Fax 021 4535555

e-mail: information@cso.ie

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