Press Statement

Preasráiteas

24 February 2021

Go to release: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2019

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (24 February 2021) published Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2019, the seventeenth in the series. It includes 60 indicators presented over five themes that highlight key trends in Irish society, drawing comparisons over time and in a European context.

Commenting on each theme in the report, Michael Courtney, Statistician, said: “Under the theme of Society in the publication, we can see:

• The proportion of the population aged 65 years or over has increased over the last ten years from 11.3% in 2010 to 14.5% in 2020. Similarly, the proportion of the population aged 45-64 years also increased, from 22.4% in 2010 to 24.6% in 2020.
• Conversely, the proportion of the population aged 15-24 years decreased from 13.5% in 2010 to 12.7% in 2020, while the proportion of the population aged 25-44 years also decreased from the 31.7% in 2010 to 28.1% in 2020. Since 2010, the proportion of the population aged 0-14 years decreased marginally, from 21.0% in 2010 to 20.2% in 2020.
• In 2018, 37.9% of births in Ireland were outside of marriage. In the same year, Ireland, along with Sweden and Romania, had the second highest fertility rate in the EU at 1.8, although all EU countries had a fertility rate below the theoretical replacement rate of 2.1.
• Ireland and Malta both had the lowest divorce rate in the EU27 in 2017, at 0.7 divorces per 1,000 persons, while the average divorce rate in the EU27 was 1.9 divorces per 1,000 persons in 2017.

Under the theme of Economy in the publication, we know:

• Ireland had the eleventh highest Gross National Income (GNI) in the EU27 in 2019 at €275.5bn, and the tenth highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of €356.1 bn.
• In 2019, comparative price levels of final consumption by private households in Ireland were 35.4% higher than the EU27 average.
• In 2019, Ireland had a total unemployment rate of 5.4%, which was below the EU27 average of 6.8%. This was the twelfth lowest unemployment rate in the EU27 in 2019.

 Under the theme of Environment in the publication, we found:

• The quantity of waste landfilled in Ireland dropped by 78.4% between 2008 and 2018 from 1.94 to 0.42 million tonnes. In all 29.4% of municipal waste was recycled in Ireland in 2018, below the EU average of 30.3%.
• Ireland had 445 passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 2018, the seventh lowest rate in the EU. Luxembourg had the highest number of cars per 1,000 inhabitants at 676, while the lowest was Romania at 332.
• In Ireland, total greenhouse gas emissions decreased from 67.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2008 to 57.0 million tonnes in 2011, then increasing to 60.9 million tonnes by 2018."

Further commenting on the themes and looking at the Chapter on Education, Michael Courtney, Statistician, said:

• “Ireland had the highest rate of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates in the EU in 2018. The proportion of graduates in these disciplines was 35.2 per 1,000 persons aged 20-29 in Ireland, while the EU average was 19.6.
• More than half (53.1%) of persons aged 25-34 in Ireland had a third level qualification in 2019, above the EU27 average of 38.5%, and the fourth highest rate in the EU27.
• Ireland's NEET rate (neither in employment nor in education and training) in 2019 was 12.4%, below the EU average of 13.2%.

Under the theme of Health it has been found that:

• Healthy life years at birth for females in Ireland was 70.4 years in 2018 and was 6.2 years above the EU average. The equivalent male rate in Ireland in 2018 was 68.4 years and was 4.7 years above the EU average.
• Females in Ireland can expect to spend 16.3% of their life expectancy in poor health, the fourth lowest rate in the EU. Slovenia, Finland and Estonia had the highest rates, with females can expect to spend at least a third of their life in poor health.
• Irish males can expect to spend 15.0% of their life expectancy in poor health, and also the fourth lowest rate in the EU. Males in Estonia, Austria, Slovenia, Latvia and Finland can anticipate spending over a quarter of their life expectancy in poor health."

-- ENDS --