Northern Ireland Abstract of Statistics Online
Chapter 12 Republic of Ireland: Headline Data
■ The population of the Republic of Ireland, at the 2011 Census, exceeded
4.6 million, the highest recorded population since 1851.
■ There were 73,000 births in the Republic of Ireland in the 2006 and 2011
intercensal period, an increase of 20 per cent on 2002-2006. The number of
deaths has been generally decreasing since 1936-1946, but did not change
between the periods 2002-2006 and 2006-2011.
■ There were, on average, 4.5 persons per household in 1926. By 1991,
average household size had fallen to 3.3 and the latest figure, for 2006, is 2.8
persons per household.
■ Over the period 2001 to 2010, the total number of recipients of weekly
social welfare payments has increased by 58 per cent to 1,430,919.
■ Between 2003 and 2008, the number of people attaining third level
education increased by 40per cent , from 625,800 in 2003 to 873,900 in 2008.
■ The number of female teaching posts in the Republic of Ireland has been
increasing over the period 1998 to 2010, while the number of male teaching
posts has fluctuated around 4,500. Overall, between 1998 and 2010, the
number of teaching posts has risen by 51 per cent to 31,881.
■ In the Republic of Ireland in 2010, theft and related offences were the most
common type of crime with 76,852 recorded cases.
■ Between 2009 and 2010, the number of persons in employment fell from
1.94 million to 1.86 million.
■ Between 2009 and 2010 in the Republic of Ireland, the number of new
private cars licensed for the first time rose from 73,125 to 103,076, an
increase of 41 per cent.
■ Driving tests conducted in 2009 totalled 125,823. This is the lowest number
since 1998. The overall pass rate was 45.7 per cent, which was the lowest
rate in the period between 1998 and 2009
■ The total area farmed for cereals in 2010 was 2.7 million hectares. Wheat
accounted for 28 per cent, oats for 7 per cent, barley for 64 per cent and other
cereals for 1 per cent of the total.
■ In June 2010, there were around 6.6 million cattle, 4.6 million sheep and 1.5
million pigs being kept as livestock in the Republic of Ireland.
■ The greatest increase in the volume of industrial production (with price
changes eliminated) between 2005 and 2010 occurred in chemicals, chemical
products and man made fibers with an increase of 48 per cent.
■ Greenhouse gas emissions have increased by fallen from 45,749 kiloton’s
in 2008 to 40,801 kiloton’s in 2009.