Welcome to the 2017 edition of Measuring Ireland's Progress and the sixth edition designed for the web and mobile devices.
The progress indicators used in this report provide an overall view of the social, economic, environment, education and health situation in Ireland. From the feedback we have received on earlier reports, users have found it useful to have a diverse set of important indicators brought together in one report. A similar approach has also been followed in other CSO publications such as Women and Men in Ireland 2016 and Regional Quality of Life in Ireland 2013. This report is the fifteenth in the Measuring Ireland’s Progress series. In June 2012 the CSO launched a new web-based report which brings together national data on 27 key short-term economic indicators in a timely and accessible way. The CSO also publishes the Macroeconomic Scoreboard 2017, an annual process which the European Commission undertakes using a scoreboard of eleven headline indicators and 28 auxiliary indicators to screen for and correct any macroeconomic imbalances that may occur in Member States.
Internationally there has been an increasing level of interest in national progress indicators. A number of other EU countries have published similar reports (e.g., Spain and Germany) and the OECD publishes an annual Factbook covering more than 100 indicators. The OECD is also actively involved in measuring well-being and progress through their OECD Better Life Initiative and their publication How's Life? 2017 Measuring Well-being.
Pádraig Dalton,
Director General
This web-based edition of Measuring Ireland’s Progress is organised so that sixty-one indicators are presented in five themes – Society, Economy, Environment, Education and Health.
Most indicators are presented in both a national and an international context. The national context is generally in a time series format while the international context compares Ireland with other EU countries, and where available, with three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and five countries (Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey) who were official EU candidate countries in 2017. The appendices describe the indicator definitions and data sources in greater detail. Where a graph and/or map is available for an indicator this will be indicated below the text for that indicator.
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Highlights
In 2018 the population estimate for Ireland was 4.86m, meaning that 1 in every 100 people in the EU lived in Ireland. Ireland had the fifth highest population increase (8.5%) in the EU between 2008 and 2018. Germany had the largest population in the EU in 2018, at 82.9m, and accounted for 16 in every 100 people in the EU.
The number of people aged 65 and over in Ireland grew by over a third (39.2%) between 2008 and 2018, an increase of 189,700 persons.
In 2016, Ireland had the third highest fertility rate in the EU at 1.81. All EU countries had a fertility rate below the theoretical replacement rate of 2.1.
Ireland’s exports and imports were 194.6% and 145.3% of Modified Gross National Income (GNI*) respectively. These high levels of imports and exports demonstrate that Ireland’s economy is very open.
Prices in Ireland were the fourth highest in the EU in 2017 after Denmark, Luxembourg and Sweden at 25.4% above the EU average. Ireland had the highest labour productivity in the EU in 2017, as measured by GDP per hour worked, at 77.8% above the EU average. Excluding the Foreign Sector (to exclude globalisation effects), Ireland had a labour productivity 19.0% higher than the EU average.
Municipal waste in Ireland dropped by 18.4% between 2006 and 2016, falling from 3.38 to 2.76 million tonnes. Over the same time period, the amount of waste recovered rose from 33.1% to 72.6% of total waste generated.
In 2016, Ireland’s net greenhouse gas emissions exceeded the limit in the Kyoto Protocol by 0.4%; this was the first time since 2008 that Ireland breached this limit.
Ireland had 439 passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 2016, the fifth lowest ratio in the EU.
The NEET rate (neither in employment nor in education and training) for young people in Ireland aged 18-25 was 13.2% in 2017, below the EU average of 14.3%.
The number of mathematics, science and technology (STEM) graduates in Ireland was 28.9 per 1,000 persons aged 20-29 in 2016, the second highest rate in the EU. Ireland had the second highest gender differential in STEM graduates in the EU, with 41.3 male graduates and 16.6 female graduates per 1,000 persons aged 20-29.
Male life expectancy at birth in Ireland was 79.9 years in 2016, while female life expectancy was 3.7 years higher at 83.6 year. Italy had the highest life expectancy for males at 81.0 years, while Spain had the highest for females at 86.3 years.
Public health spending per capita, in constant 2016 prices, increased from €2,673 to €3,092 between 2006 and 2016 in Ireland, an increase of 15.7%.
Overview
Population: Ireland accounted for just under 1.0% of the total EU population in 2018 and had the fifth highest percentage increase in population between 2008 and 2018. Ireland had the third highest fertility rate in the EU in 2016 at 1.81, the EU average was much lower at 1.60. Just over a third (36.6%) of all Irish births in 2016 were outside marriage, below the EU average of 42.6%.
The divorce rate in Ireland was 0.7 divorces per 1,000 population in 2016, the lowest rate in the EU. Ireland had the highest proportion of young people (0-14) in the EU, and the second lowest proportion of old people (65 and over). These combined to give Ireland a dependency ratio of 52.9%, just one percentage point less than the EU average of 53.9%. (Tables 1.2, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8)
Health: Current public expenditure on health care in Ireland averaged €3,092 per person in 2016 (at constant 2016 prices), an increase of 15.7% on 2006. Life expectancy at birth in Ireland in 2016, as calculated by Eurostat, was 83.6 years for females, exactly the same as the EU average. The male life expectancy at birth in Ireland was 79.9 years, 1.7 years above the EU average. A 65 year old man in Ireland can now expect to live for a further 17.7 years while a 65 year old woman can look forward to another 20.6 years.
The predicted healthy life years at birth for females in Ireland was 69.8 years in 2016, the third highest rate in the EU and 5.6 years above the EU average. Male healthy life years at birth in Ireland in 2016 was 67.3 years, the fifth highest rate in the EU and 3.8 years higher than the EU average.
Irish males can expect to spend nearly 16.0% of their life expectancy in poor health, the fourth lowest rate in the EU. Males in Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, and Finland can anticipate spending about a quarter of their life expectancy in poor health. Females in Ireland can expect to spend 16.5% of their life expectancy in poor health, the fourth lowest rate in the EU. In Finland females are predicted to spend nearly a third of their life in poor health (32.5%), the highest rate in the EU. (Tables 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6 and 5.7)
Environment: There were 439 passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants in Ireland in 2016, the fifth lowest rate in the EU. The highest number of cars per 1,000 inhabitants was in Luxembourg at 662, while the lowest was in Hungary at 338.
The quantity of municipal waste generated per person in Ireland dropped by a quarter over the 2006 to 2016 period, from 799.6 to 583.0kg. Just over a quarter (25.7%) of municipal waste was landfilled in Ireland in 2016, above the EU average of 24.4%. The landfill percentage varies widely in EU states, from less than 1.0% in Belgium and Sweden (where recycling and incineration rates are high), to over 80.0% in Greece and Malta. The quantity of waste landfilled in Ireland dropped by 64.1% between 2006 and 2016 from 1.98 to 0.71 million tonnes.
Total greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland fell by 9.6% between 2007 and 2016, from 68.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent to 61.5 million tonnes. (Tables 3.2, 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9)
Education: Real expenditure per student increased over the period 2006-2015 by 15.1% at primary level and 6.8% at secondary level. However, there was a decrease of 24.6% at third level over the same time period. In 2017, just over half (50.5%) of the population aged 25-34 had completed third level education, the third highest rate across the EU.
Just over one in eight (13.2%) of those aged 18-24 in Ireland in 2016 was neither in employment nor in education and training (the NEET rate). The EU average NEET rate was 14.3% and varied from a low of 5.3% in the Netherlands to 25.7% in Italy. Ireland had the second highest proportion of mathematics, science and technology (STEM) graduates in the EU in 2016. The proportion of graduates in these disciplines was 28.9 per 1,000 of the population aged 20-29 in Ireland, while the EU average was 19.1. (Tables 4.1, 4.5, 4.7 and 4.8)
Prices: Ireland had the fourth highest price levels in the EU in 2017, with prices 25.4% higher than the EU average. Only Denmark, Luxembourg, and Sweden were more expensive. However, this was a decrease from 2008 when price levels in Ireland were 26.5% above the EU average and were the second highest in the EU. (Table 2.13)
Employment and unemployment: The employment rate in Ireland fell sharply from 71.7% in 2007 to 59.8% by 2012 before rising to 67.4% in 2017, just below the EU average of 67.7%. The highest employment rate in 2017 in the EU was in Sweden at 76.9% while the lowest rate was in Greece at 53.5%.
The unemployment rate in Ireland rose from 5.2% in 2007 to 15.9% in 2012 before decreasing to 6.9% in 2017. Ireland had the thirteenth highest unemployment rate in the EU, with the lowest rate in the Czech Republic at 2.9% and the highest in Greece at 21.5%. (Tables 2.14 and 2.16)
Housing: The number of new dwellings in Ireland increased 106.4% between 2011 and 2017, from 6,994 to 14,435. In the same time period, the number of apartments increased by 173.6% (822 to 2,249) and scheme houses rose by 483.2% (1,358 to 7,920), however single houses fell by 11.4% (4,814 to 4,266). Nationally, residential property prices decreased 53.0% between 2008 and 2013, before increasing 68.0% from 2013 to 2018. (Tables 2.19 and 2.20)
Social cohesion: The at risk of poverty rate in Ireland was 15.7% in 2017, which was below the EU rate of 17.0%. In 2017, 6.7% of the population in Ireland was in consistent poverty. Ireland’s net official development assistance was 0.32% of GNI in 2017, the tenth highest rate in the EU, but below the UN target of 0.7%. (Tables 1.9, 1.10 and 1.14)
Economy: The GDP growth rate for Ireland in 2017 was 7.2%, the highest in the EU and above the EU average of 2.4%. Greece had the lowest GDP growth rate in the EU in 2017 at 1.4%, however no country experienced negative growth. In 2017, Ireland had the second highest GDP per capita in the EU at 84% higher than the EU average.
The public balance deficit was 0.4% of GDP, smaller than the EU average of 1.0% and a significant improvement on 2010 when it was 32.0%. Government debt dropped in 2017 to 68.4% of GDP (below the EU average of 81.6%), having been 119.9 in 2012. Ireland’s gross fixed capital formation was 23.5% of GDP in 2017, above the EU average of 20.1%.
The productivity of the Irish workforce, excluding the Foreign Sector and as measured by GDP per hour worked, was 19.0% higher than the EU average. (Tables 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.8, and 2.15)
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