Press Statement

Preasráiteas

25 February 2022

Go to release: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (25 February 2022) published Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2020, the eighteenth 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, Brian O’Mahony, Statistician, said: “Under the theme of Society in the publication, we can see:

• The proportion of the population aged 65 years and over has increased over the last 10 years from 11.6% in 2011 to 14.8% in 2021. Similarly, the proportion of the population aged 45-64 years also increased, from 22.7% in 2011 to 25.0% in 2021.

• Conversely, the proportion of the population aged 15-24 years remained unchanged, at 12.7% in both 2011 and 2021, while the proportion of the population aged 25-44 years decreased from 31.7% in 2011 to 27.7% in 2021. Since 2011, the proportion of the population aged 0-14 years also decreased, from 21.3% in 2011 to 19.9% in 2021.

• In 2019, 38.4% of births in Ireland were outside of marriage. In the same year, Ireland, along with Sweden, Czech Republic, Denmark and Estonia, had the third highest fertility rate in the EU at 1.7, 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 2018, at 0.7 divorces per 1,000 persons, while the average divorce rate in the EU27 was 1.8 divorces per 1,000 persons in 2018.

Some of the key findings under the theme of Economy include:

• Ireland had the eleventh highest Gross National Income (GNI) in the EU27 in 2020 at €283.7bn, and the tenth highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of €372.9bn.

• In 2020, comparative price levels of final consumption by private households in Ireland were 40.0% higher than the EU27 average.

• In 2020, Ireland had a total unemployment rate of 5.4%, which was below the EU27 average of 7.1%. This was the tenth lowest unemployment rate in the EU27 in 2020.

Some of the key findings under the theme of Environment include:

• The quantity of waste landfilled in Ireland dropped by 72.6% between 2009 and 2019 from 1.72 to 0.47 million tonnes. In all 27.8% of municipal waste was recycled in Ireland in 2019, below the EU average of 30.1%.

• Ireland had 454 passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 2019, the seventh lowest rate in the EU. Luxembourg had the highest number of cars per 1,000 inhabitants at 681, while the lowest was Romania at 357.

• In Ireland, total greenhouse gas emissions decreased from 61.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2009 to 57.0 million tonnes in 2011, but by 2019 they were to 59.8 million tonnes.”

Further commenting on the themes and looking at the Chapter on Education, Brian O’Mahony, Statistician, said:

• “Ireland had the highest rate of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates in the EU in 2019. The proportion of graduates in these disciplines was 36.9 per 1,000 persons aged 20-29 in Ireland, while the EU average was 20.8.

• More than half (56.3%) of persons aged 25-34 in Ireland had a third level qualification in 2020, above the EU27 average of 39.6%, and the third highest rate in the EU27.

• Ireland's NEET rate (neither in employment nor in education and training) in 2020 was 14.8%, above the EU average of 14.4%.

Some of the key findings under the theme of Health include:

• Healthy life years at birth for females in Ireland was 70.5 years in 2019 and was 5.4 years above the EU average. The equivalent male rate in Ireland in 2019 was 68.6 years and was 4.4 years above the EU average.

• Females in Ireland can expect to spend 16.8% of their life expectancy in poor health, the fourth lowest rate in the EU. Finland had the highest proportion of female life expectancy in poor health at 35.4%.

• Irish males can expect to spend 15.1% of their life expectancy in poor health, the fifth lowest rate in the EU."

-- ENDS --