Statistics show extent of Ireland's progress

The report Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2006, published by the CSO today, shows the progress made in Ireland in important economic, social and environmental areas. As well as showing developments over time, the report benchmarks the situation in Ireland against the other EU Member States.

Key findings of the report include:

• In 2005 Ireland had the second highest GDP per capita in the EU 27 at 38.9% above the EU 25 average. However, based on GNI, Ireland was in fifth place at 18.6% above the EU 25 average (Table 1.3).
• Investment in Ireland in Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) increased by almost 43% over the period 1996-2005. In each year since 1997, Ireland has invested a higher proportion of GDP in GFCF than the EU 25 average (Graph 1.9).
• Life expectancy at birth was estimated at 81.8 years for Irish women and 77.1 years for Irish men in 2005. Life expectancy for men in Ireland was 1.3 years above the estimated EU 25 average of 75.8 years, while that for women was 0.1 years below the EU 25 average of 81.9 years (Table 6.4).
• Ireland's international trade competitiveness has deteriorated since 2000, mainly due to higher inflation and an appreciating euro (Table 1.15). Over the period 1999-2006, the euro increased in value against the dollar by 17% (Table 1.16).
• The employment rate in Ireland rose from 56.1% in 1997 to 68.1% in 2006. The rate for women increased by over 14 percentage points over that period, while the rate for men rose by around 10 percentage points (Table 3.1). Productivity in Ireland, measured as GDP per person employed, was the second highest in the EU 27 in 2005 (Graph 3.4).
• The unemployment rate in Ireland increased from a low point of 3.6% in 2001 to 4.3% in 2006 (Graph 3.5). Ireland had the third lowest unemployment rate in the EU 27 in 2006 at just over half of the EU 27 average of 7.9% (Table 3.6). The long-term unemployment rate in Ireland was 1.4% in 2005, which was lower than the EU27 average of4%(Table 3.8).
• The employment rate of persons aged 55-64 at 51.7% was higher than the EU 27 average of 42.3% in 2005. However only 37.4% of women in Ireland in this age group were in employment compared to 65.7% of men (Table 3.11).
• Over 6% of men and 7.5% of women in Ireland were in consistent poverty in 2005 (Table 4.7). Unemployed people were most likely to be in consistent poverty (Graph 4.8).
• The proportion of Irish people at risk of poverty, after pensions and social transfer payments were taken into account, was 20% in 2005. This was one of the highest rates in the EU 27. The effect of pensions and social transfers on reducing the at-risk-of-poverty rate was low in Ireland compared with other EU 27 countries (Table 4.5).
• Ireland's net official development assistance amounted to 0.42% of GNI in 2005. This was below both the UN 2007 target of 0.7% of GNI and the interim Irish Government 2002 target of 0.45% of GNI (Table 4.13). Non-capital public expenditure on education per student rose by 45.2% between 1996 and 2005, after allowing for inflation. Most of the increased expenditure was directed towards primary and secondary education (Table 5.1).
• The pupil-teacher ratio at primary level in Ireland in the school year 2003/2004 was one of the highest in the EU 27 at 18.3. Twelve of the other EU 27 member states had a pupil-teacher ratio of less than 15 at primary level (Table 5.4).
• Early school leavers represented 12.3% of the 18-24 age group in Ireland in 2006 (Table 5.12). The unemployment rate for early school leavers in this age group was 19% in 2006 compared with an unemployment rate of 8.2% for all persons aged 18-24 (Table 5.10).
• The population in Ireland increased by 15.7% to almost 4.24 million persons in the period 1997-2006 (Table 7.1). This was the second highest rate of increase in the EU 27 behind Cyprus (Graph 7.3). The fertility rate in Ireland was the second highest in the EU 27 after France in 2005, at a rate of 1.88 compared to an EU 25 average of 1.52 (Table 7.10).
• An average of €2,223 (at constant 2003 prices) per person was spent on non-capital public expenditure on health care in Ireland in 2004. This represented an increase of over 80% on the 1995 level (Table 6.1).
• Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions were at 125.4% of 1990 levels in 2005. This was 12.4% higher than the Kyoto 2008-2012 target for Ireland of 113% of 1990 levels (Graph 10.1).
• The percentage of waste landfilled in Ireland decreased from 71.6% in 2003 to 65.4% in 2005. Glass and ferrous, aluminium and other metals were the materials most likely to be recycled with 64.4% of glass waste and 53.8% of metal waste recycled in 2005 (Table 10.8).

Editor's note

Measuring Ireland's Progress 2006 is available on the CSO web site (www.cso.ie (PDF 478KB) (PDF 697KB) ‌)

For copies of the publications contact:

The Central Statistics Office, Information Section, Skehard Road, Cork
Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2
Price: €5

For further information:

Gerry Brady at 01 498 4201 or Mark Manto at 01 498 4204.

30 April 2007

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