Environment Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020

By country: Greenhouse gas emissions

Table 3.1 By country: Greenhouse gas emissions, 2019^1,2
	1990 = 100		Percentage points
Country	2019 GHG Emissions	Kyoto Target Index	Above/Below Limit
Estonia	35.8	92.0	56.2
Lithuania	42.6	92.0	49.4
Romania	42.7	92.0	49.3
Latvia	43.0	92.0	49.0
Greece	82.9	125.0	42.1
Slovakia	54.4	92.0	37.6
Bulgaria	56.0	92.0	36.0
Sweden	71.5	104.0	32.5
Czech Republic	62.0	92.0	30.0
Hungary	68.0	94.0	26.0
Finland	74.5	100.0	25.5
France	80.1	100.0	19.9
Croatia	75.2	95.0	19.8
Portugal	108.1	127.0	18.9
Denmark	62.4	79.0	16.6
Germany	64.9	79.0	14.1
Italy	80.6	93.5	12.9
Belgium	80.1	92.5	12.4
Netherlands	82.0	94.0	12.0
Poland	82.1	94.0	11.9
Spain	108.5	115.0	6.5
Ireland	109.9	113.0	3.1
Slovenia	91.8	92.0	0.2
Luxembourg	84.4	72.0	-12.4
Austria	101.8	87.0	-14.8
Cyprus	158.7	:	:
Malta	83.8	:	:

United Kingdom	56.8	87.5	30.7

EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	85.5	92.0	6.5
Norway	97.8	101.0	3.2
Iceland	128.2	110.0	-18.2
Source: European Environment Agency
¹Data unavailable for EU candidate countries.
²Sorted by Above/Below Limit, descending.
: Data is unavailable

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.1 (XLS 12KB)

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol international treaty established goals for nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The EU14 countries agreed to collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 8.0% on 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. Ireland's responsibility towards this goal was not to exceed a 13.0% increase on 1990 levels.

In 2009, Irish greenhouse gas emissions were 114.6%, above the Kyoto limit of 113.0%. By 2011 Irish greenhouse gas emissions decreased to a low of 106.2% and remained close to this level between 2011 and 2015.

By 2016, Irish greenhouse gas emissions increased to 114.8%, resulting in 2016 being the first year since 2010 that emissions exceeded the limits established in the Kyoto protocol (at 1.8 percentage points above the Kyoto limit).

Irish greenhouse gas emissions fell below the Kyoto limit again in 2019 to 109.9%.

There were two EU27 countries that exceeded the Kyoto target index in 2019: Luxembourg (-12.4 percentage points) and Austria (-14.8 percentage points).

Year	Ireland	Kyoto Target
2009	114.6	113
2010	113.9	113
2011	106.2	113
2012	108.1	113
2013	107.7	113
2014	106.7	113
2015	106.7	113
2016	114.8	113
2017	114.2	113
2018	114.9	113
2019	109.9	113

Ireland: Greenhouse gas emissions

Table 3.2 Ireland: Greenhouse gas emissions, 2009-2019¹
	Carbon Dioxide	Nitrous Oxide	Methane	HFC, PFC, SF₆, NF₃	Total GHG Emissions
Year	'000 tonnes CO₂	'000 tonnes N₂O	'000 tonnes CH₄	'000 tonnes CO₂ eq.
2009	42,110	20	492	1,037	61,547
2010	41,678	21	483	1,008	61,105
2011	38,000	20	481	1,015	56,989
2012	38,179	20	493	995	57,612
2013	37,292	22	538	1,159	58,571
2014	36,909	22	540	1,232	58,063
2015	38,688	22	562	1,235	60,432
2016	40,156	22	577	1,321	62,475
2017	39,133	23	593	1,246	62,115
2018	39,195	24	606	938	62,526
2019	37,275	23	589	917	59,778
Source: CSO, Environmental Accounts Air Emissions
¹Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions is greater than the sum of components shown in the table above, as nitrous oxide and methane are not shown in CO₂ equivalents.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.2 (XLS 11KB)

The three main components of greenhouse gas emissions are carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrous oxide (N₂O), and methane (CH₄). The other gases that contribute to emissions are hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), perfluorocarbons (PFC), sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF₃). These latter four gases accounted for between 1.5% and 2.1% of total GHG emissions.

Total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions decreased from 61.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 2009 to 57.0 million tonnes in 2011. GHG emissions then increased from 57.6 to 62.5 million tonnes between 2012 and 2018 before falling to 59.8 million tonnes in 2019.

There was a 2.9% decrease in total greenhouse gas emissions between 2009 and 2019. In the same time period, there was an 11.5% decrease in CO₂ emissions, a 12.5% increase in N₂O emissions, and a 19.7% increase in CH₄emissions

Carbon dioxide emissions decreased from 42.1 to 37.3 million tonnes between 2009 and 2019.

Ireland: Air pollutant emissions

Table 3.3 Ireland: Air pollutant emissions, 2009-2019
'000 tonnes
Year	Sulphur Dioxide (SO₂)	Nitrogen Oxide (No_x)	Ammonia (NH₃)	Carbon Monoxide(CO)	PM_2.5	PM₁₀
2009	32	123	110	156	17	38
2010	26	117	108	143	16	35
2011	25	105	104	131	15	29
2012	23	108	106	124	14	29
2013	24	113	118	120	15	29
2014	18	112	114	113	14	28
2015	16	115	120	111	14	29
2016	14	115	125	104	13	28
2017	15	111	129	92	13	29
2018	15	110	135	82	14	29
2019	11	101	125	68	12	28
Source: CSO, Environmental Accounts Air Emissions

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.3 (XLS 10KB)

All of the air pollutants included in the table above decreased between 2009 and 2019, with the exception of ammonia, which increased from 110,000 tonnes in 2009 to 125,000 tonnes in 2019 (peaking at 135,000 tonnes in 2018).

Sulphur dioxide emissions decreased by 66.4%, from 32,000 tonnes in 2009 to 11,000 tonnes in 2019.

Between 2009 and 2019, particulate matter (PM₁₀) decreased by 26.8%, and fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) decreased by 31.6%. The main source of PM₁₀emissions in 2019 is industry. The primary source of PM_2.5particles is household activities.

In the same time period, carbon monoxide emissions decreased by 56.1% and nitrogen oxide emissions decreased by 18.0%.

Ireland: Particulate matter in urban areas

Table 3.4 Ireland: Particulate matter in urban areas, 2010-2020¹
PM₁₀(µg/m³)
Year	Dublin		Cork		Towns > 15,000
	Average PM₁₀	Number of days daily PM₁₀ limit exceeded	Average PM₁₀	Number of days daily PM₁₀ limit exceeded	Average PM₁₀	Number of days daily PM₁₀ limit exceeded
2010	19	7	22	7	27	34
2011	14	7	21	19	21	24
2012	13	0	17	7	19	8
2013	14	3	17	7	21	11
2014	14	1	16	1	21	10
2015	14	4	17	3	18	10
2016	14	1	18	7	17	12
2017	13	3	17	4	16	9
2018	14	1	17	0	16	4
2019	15	9	18	6	18	12
2020	13	0	15	2	20	19
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
¹See Appendix 1 for location of monitoring stations.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.4 (XLS 9KB)

The annual average measure of particulate matter (PM₁₀) in Dublin decreased from 19 to 13 µg/m³ between 2010 and 2012, before increasing to 14 µg/m³ in 2013. Between 2013 and 2020, the level of PM₁₀ in Dublin ranged from 13 to 15 µg/m³, with the level of PM₁₀ being 13 µg/m³ in 2020.

The number of days the daily limit of PM₁₀ was exceeded in Dublin fell from 7 in 2010 to 0 in 2012. It increased to 9 days by 2019, before decreasing to 0 days in 2020.

In Cork, the level of PM₁₀ varied from a high of 22 µg/m³ in 2010 to a low of 15 µg/m³ 2020.

Between 2010 and 2020, the average level of PM₁₀ in towns with a population greater than 15,000 persons was in the range of 16 to 27 µg/m³. In 2020, the daily limit of PM₁₀ was exceeded on 19 days out of the year.

The EU set a limit of 50 µg/m³ of PM₁₀ in a 24 hour period. The EU also set a limit that a country my not exceed this limit in any locality for more than 35 days of the year. Ireland has not exceeded the 35-day limit at any monitoring station to date.

Year	Dublin	Cork	Towns > 15,000	EU27 Limit
2010	7	7	34	35
2011	7	19	24	35
2012	0	7	8	35
2013	3	7	11	35
2014	1	1	10	35
2015	4	3	10	35
2016	1	7	12	35
2017	3	4	9	35
2018	1	0	4	35
2019	9	6	12	35
2020	0	2	19	35

Ireland: Annual average fine particulate matter

Table 3.5 Ireland: Annual average fine particulate matter, 2010-2020¹
PM_2.5(µg/m³)
Year	Dublin	Cork	Towns > 15,000	Rural
2010	12	15	16	:
2011	12	12	14	9
2012	11	9	12	9
2013	11	11	:	16
2014	9	8	16	14
2015	10	7	12	10
2016	10	7	12	12
2017	9	6	11	9
2018	9	8	10	9
2019	10	8	16	9
2020	8	8	14	9
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
¹See Appendix 1 for locations of monitoring stations.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.5 (XLS 16KB)

Between 2010 and 2020, the annual average fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in Dublin ranged from a high of 12 µg/m³ to a low of 8 µg/m³.
In Cork, the level of fine particulate matter fell from 15 µg/m³ in 2010 to 8 µg/m³ in 2020.
In towns greater than 15,000 persons, the average level of fine particulate matter ranged from 10 µg/m³ to 16 µg/m³ between 2010 and 2020.
In rural areas, the average level of fine particulate matter in 2020 was 9 µg/m³. This was the same as the previous three years.
There were no regions where PM_2.5 levels exceeded the EU limit of 25 µg/m³.

By country: Energy productivity

Table 3.6 By country: Energy productivity, 2015-2019¹
€ per kg of oil equivalent (KGOE)
Country	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Ireland	16.2	15.7	17.5	18.7	19.6
Denmark	14.4	14.5	15.0	15.2	15.9
Luxembourg	11.3	11.8	11.6	11.4	11.6
Italy	9.9	10.1	9.9	10.1	10.3
Germany	8.7	8.8	9.0	9.4	9.7
Austria	9.2	9.3	9.3	9.8	9.7
Spain	8.2	8.4	8.3	8.5	8.9
France	8.0	8.3	8.4	8.6	8.9
Sweden	8.5	8.3	8.3	8.4	8.8
EU27	7.8	7.8	7.9	8.1	8.4
Netherlands	7.5	7.5	7.7	8.1	8.3
Cyprus	7.0	6.9	7.1	7.3	7.7
Portugal	7.1	7.2	7.2	7.5	7.7
Greece	7.1	7.2	6.9	7.2	7.3
Belgium	6.5	6.2	6.2	6.3	6.5
Slovenia	5.7	5.6	5.7	5.9	6.3
Croatia	5.3	5.5	5.5	5.7	5.9
Finland	5.7	5.7	5.8	5.8	5.9
Romania	4.5	4.8	4.8	5.0	5.3
Slovakia	4.8	4.8	4.7	5.0	5.1
Latvia	4.6	4.6	4.7	4.8	4.9
Lithuania	4.7	4.6	4.6	4.7	4.9
Hungary	4.4	4.4	4.4	4.6	4.9
Poland	4.4	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.7
Czech Republic	4.1	4.2	4.3	4.4	4.6
Estonia	3.4	2.9	3.0	3.3	4.1
Malta	3.9	3.7	3.5	3.6	3.6
Bulgaria	2.2	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.5

United Kingdom	10.7	11.0	11.4	11.5	11.9

EFTA Countries:
Norway	11.5	12.1	11.7	11.7	12.6
Iceland	2.0	2.2	2.2	2.1	2.2

EU Candidate Countries:
Turkey	6.2	6.1	6.0	6.3	6.3
Montenegro	3.4	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6
Macedonia	3.0	3.1	3.0	3.3	3.1
Serbia	2.2	2.2	2.2	2.3	2.5
Source: Eurostat General and Regional Statistics
¹Sorted by 2019, descending.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.6 (XLS 10KB)

Energy productivity measures the amount of output that is produced per unit of gross inland energy consumption and provides an indicator of the energy consumption.

Ireland's energy productivity increased from €16.2 per kilogram of oil equivalent (KGOE) in 2015 to €19.6 per KGOE in 2019. This was the highest energy productivity in the EU27 in 2019.

In the EU27, Ireland had the highest energy productivity each year since 2015, peaking at €19.6 per KGOE in 2019.

In 2019, the EU27 average energy productivity was €8.4 per KGOE, with the lowest energy productivity in Bulgaria, at €2.5 per KGOE.

Country	Energy productivity
Ireland	19.6
Denmark	15.9
Luxembourg	11.6
Italy	10.3
Germany	9.7
Austria	9.7
Spain	8.9
France	8.9
Sweden	8.8
EU27	8.4
Netherlands	8.3
Cyprus	7.7
Portugal	7.7
Greece	7.3
Belgium	6.5
Slovenia	6.3
Croatia	5.9
Finland	5.9
Romania	5.3
Slovakia	5.1
Latvia	4.9
Lithuania	4.9
Hungary	4.9
Poland	4.7
Czech Republic	4.6
Estonia	4.1
Malta	3.6
Bulgaria	2.5
United Kingdom	11.9
Norway	12.6
Iceland	2.2
Turkey	6.3
Montenegro	3.6
Macedonia	3.1
Serbia	2.5

Ireland: Municipal waste generated, recovered, and landfilled

Table 3.7 Ireland: Municipal waste generated, recovered, and landfilled, 2009-2019¹
Year	'000 tonnes			kg per capita	% of waste generated
	Waste generated	Waste recovered	Waste landfilled	Waste generated	Waste recovered	Waste landfilled
2009	2,952.9	1,101.3	1,723.7	651.4	37.3	58.4
2010	2,846.1	1,084.9	1,495.6	624.9	38.1	52.5
2011	2,823.2	1,202.6	1,344.0	617.1	42.6	47.6
2012	2,692.5	1,450.7	1,027.6	586.1	53.9	38.2
2013	:	:	:	:	:	:
2014	2,619.0	2,038.6	536.5	563.8	77.8	20.5
2015	:	:	:	:	:	:
2016	2,763.2	2,007.4	710.8	583.0	72.6	25.7
2017	2,768.0	2,100.7	622.9	577.6	75.9	22.5
2018	2,912.4	2,447.1	418.1	599.6	84.0	14.4
2019	3,085.7	2,565.1	471.6	627.0	83.1	15.3
Source: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
¹Data unavailable for 2013 and 2015.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.7 (XLS 10KB)

The amount of municipal waste in Ireland rose from 3.0 million tonnes in 2009 to 3.1 million tonnes in 2019, an increase of 4.5%.

In the same period, there was a 72.6% decrease in the quantity of waste landfilled and a 132.9% increase in the quantity of waste recovered.

The quantity of municipal waste generated per person decreased from 651.4kg in 2009 to 627.0kg in 2019.

Waste recovered as a proportion of total waste generated rose from 37.3% in 2009 to 77.8% in 2014. It then decreased to 72.6% in 2016, before increasing again in subsequent years and by 2019 was 83.1%.

Year	% waste recovered	% waste landfilled
2009	37.3	58.4
2010	38.1	52.5
2011	42.6	47.6
2012	53.9	38.2
2013	0	0
2014	77.8	20.5
2015	0	0
2016	72.6	25.7
2017	75.9	22.5
2018	84	14.4
2019	83.1	15.3

By country: Municipal waste generated and treated

Table 3.8 By country: Municipal waste generated and treated, 2019^1,2,3
	kg per capita		% of waste generated
Country	Waste Generated	Landfill	Recycling	Composting	Incineration	Landfill
Malta	697	636	9.0	0.0	0.0	91.2
Greece	524	407	16.0	5.0	1.3	77.7
Romania	280	213	7.1	4.3	4.6	76.1
Cyprus	648	430	15.0	1.4	0.9	66.4
Croatia	445	264	26.7	3.4	0.0	59.3
Latvia	439	252	36.0	5.0	3.4	57.4
Slovakia	421	219	26.8	11.6	9.3	52.0
Hungary	387	196	26.6	9.3	13.7	50.6
Portugal	513	244	12.1	16.8	18.9	47.6
Czech Republic	500	231	22.0	11.2	16.4	46.2
Poland	336	145	25.0	8.9	22.9	43.2
EU27	501	121	30.1	18.0	26.3	24.2
France	556	121	23.4	20.5	32.7	21.8
Lithuania	472	102	27.5	22.2	14.8	21.6
Italy	503	105	30.0	21.3	19.7	20.9
Estonia	369	64	28.2	2.4	45.3	17.3
Ireland	627	96	27.8	9.6	45.8	15.3
Slovenia	502	52	42.6	16.7	13.1	10.4
Luxembourg	791	35	29.7	19.2	46.6	4.4
Austria	588	12	26.2	32.1	38.4	2.0
Netherlands	508	7	27.8	29.1	41.7	1.4
Belgium	416	4	34.1	20.7	42.8	1.0
Denmark	844	8	33.5	18.0	47.5	0.9
Finland	566	5	29.3	14.1	55.5	0.9
Germany	609	5	47.9	18.7	32.5	0.8
Sweden	449	3	32.5	14.3	52.6	0.7
Spain	472	:	19.7	19.7	:	:
Bulgaria	:	:	:	:	:	:

United Kingdom	455	51	27.3	17.6	39.5	11.3

EFTA Countries:
Norway	776	29	29.9	11.0	49.5	3.7
Switzerland	709	0	29.9	23.1	47.0	0.0
Iceland	:	:	:	:	:	:

EU Candidate Countries:
Montenegro	545	483	4.8	0.2	0.0	88.6
Turkey	424	347	11.1	0.5	0.0	81.8
Albania	381	305	18.6	:	1	80.1
Macedonia	441	305	:	:	:	69.2
Serbia	338	:	0.3	:	:	:
Source: Eurostat
¹Data for Ireland sourced from the EPA.
²Sorted by percent landfilled, descending.
³United Kingdom data provided by the Office for National Statistics.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.8 (XLS 17KB)

In all, 15.3% of municipal waste was sent to landfill in Ireland in 2019, below the EU27 rate of 24.2%.
Sweden, Germany, Finland and Denmark had very low percentages of waste landfilled (less than 1.0%), and Switzerland sent no waste to landfill in 2019. These countries have very high rates of recycling and incineration.
In contrast, within the EU27 more than 75% of waste in Malta, Greece and Romania went to landfill.
Less than a third (27.8%) of waste was recycled in Ireland in 2019, below the EU27 average of 30.1%.
Ireland incinerated 45.8% of its waste in 2019, above the EU27 average of 26.3%.
Ireland had the fifth highest quantity of waste generated per capita in the EU27 at 627kg per capita. Denmark had the highest waste generated per capita (844kg) and Romania had the lowest (280kg).

By country: Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants

Table 3.9 By country: Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants, 2015-2019¹
Cars per 1,000 inhabitants
Country	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Luxembourg	661	662	670	676	681
Italy	616	625	:	646	663
Cyprus	575	595	609	629	645
Poland	546	571	593	617	642
Finland	590	604	617	629	642
Estonia	514	534	550	563	598
Malta	611	615	613	608	597
Germany	548	555	561	567	574
Slovenia	523	531	541	549	556
Czech Republic	485	502	522	540	554
Lithuania	431	456	483	512	536
Portugal	457	470	492	514	530
Spain	481	492	504	513	519
Belgium	497	503	508	511	511
Greece	474	479	487	:	504
Netherlands	477	481	487	494	499
France	485	480	478	478	482
Sweden	474	477	479	476	473
Denmark	419	429	438	447	455
Ireland	436	439	444	445	454
Slovakia	375	390	408	426	439
Croatia	358	374	389	409	425
Bulgaria	442	443	393	396	407
Hungary	325	338	355	373	390
Latvia	345	341	356	369	381
Romania	261	279	307	332	357
Austria	546	550	555	562	:

United Kingdom	463	469	471	473	:

EFTA Countries:
Liechtenstein	766	773	779	780	781
Switzerland	535	537	539	539	537
Norway	501	506	514	516	522

EU Candidate Countries:
Macedonia	185	190	194	200	205
Turkey	134	142	149	151	150
Source: Eurostat, Transport
¹Sorted by 2019, descending.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.9 (XLS 10KB)

In Ireland, the number of passenger cars per 1,000 people increased from 436 in 2015 to 454 by 2019. Ireland had the seventh lowest ratio of passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants in the EU27 in 2019.

In the same year, Romania had the lowest number of passenger cars, at 357 per 1,000 inhabitants, while Luxembourg had the highest, at 681.

By country: Modal split of inland freight transport

Table 3.10 By country: Modal split of inland freight transport, 2019¹
% of inland freight
Country	Inland Waterways	Railways	Roads
Latvia	:	73.6	26.4
Lithuania	0.0	67.4	32.6
Romania	28.1	26.8	45.0
Bulgaria	31.8	21.1	47.1
Netherlands	42.7	6.3	50.9
Estonia	:	42.0	58.0
Slovenia	:	35.5	64.5
Slovakia	3.6	31.0	65.5
Austria	2.4	30.8	66.7
Hungary	5.2	26.3	68.5
Sweden	0.1	30.6	69.3
Croatia	6.5	22.8	70.7
Finland	0.3	26.9	72.8
Germany	8.0	18.7	73.4
Czech Republic	0.1	26.2	73.8
Poland	0.0	24.0	76.0
EU27	6.1	17.6	76.3
Belgium	11.4	12.0	76.6
Luxembourg	8.2	6.9	85.0
Portugal	:	13.0	87.0
France	2.4	9.7	87.9
Italy	0.0	11.9	88.1
Denmark	:	11.5	88.5
Spain	:	4.8	95.2
Greece	:	2.5	97.5
Ireland	:	0.6	99.4
Cyprus	:	:	100.0
Malta	:	:	100.0

United Kingdom	0.1	9.1	90.8

EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	0.1	34.3	65.6
Norway	:	14.6	85.4
Source: Eurostat, General and Regional Statistics
¹Sorted by "Roads", ascending.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.10 (XLS 10KB)

Almost all (99.4%) inland freight transport in Ireland went by roads in 2019, with just 0.6% transported on the railways. No inland freight used inland waterways in Ireland.
Ireland had the highest percentage of freight travelling by road of those EU27 countries that had alternative transport options available. Malta and Cyprus have no rail or inland waterway transport, thus all inland freight travelled by road in these two countries.
Latvia had the lowest percentage of freight transport travelling by road at 26.4% in 2019. Lithuania was the only other country which had more freight travelling by rail than by road, with 67.4% by railways, and 32.6% travelling by roads.
The Netherlands had the most freight travelling by inland waterways in 2019, at 42.7%. This was significantly greater than the EU27 average of 6.1%.

Country	Inland Waterways	Railways	Roads
Latvia	0	73.6	26.4
Lithuania	0	67.4	32.6
Romania	28.1	26.8	45
Bulgaria	31.8	21.1	47.1
Netherlands	42.7	6.3	50.9
Estonia	0	42	58
Slovenia	0	35.5	64.5
Slovakia	3.6	31	65.5
Austria	2.4	30.8	66.7
Hungary	5.2	26.3	68.5
Sweden	0.1	30.6	69.3
Croatia	6.5	22.8	70.7
Finland	0.3	26.9	72.8
Germany	8	18.7	73.4
Czech Republic	0.1	26.2	73.8
Poland	0	24	76
EU27	6.1	17.6	76.3
Belgium	11.4	12	76.6
Luxembourg	8.2	6.9	85
Portugal	0	13	87
France	2.4	9.7	87.9
Italy	0	11.9	88.1
Denmark	0	11.5	88.5
Spain	0	4.8	95.2
Greece	0	2.5	97.5
Ireland	0	0.6	99.4
Cyprus	0	0	100
Malta	0	0	100

Ireland: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time by type

Table 3.11 Ireland: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time by type, 2010-2020^1,2
Number of vehicles
Year	Petrol	Diesel	Electric Only	Petrol/Electric Hybrid	Plug-in Electric Hybrid	Other	Total
2010	29,668	69,544	66	739	:	3,059	103,076
2011	25,181	78,543	103	558	:	1,376	105,761
2012	19,517	73,525	215	635	:	1,201	95,093
2013	20,531	71,693	72	582	:	9	92,887
2014	25,162	91,225	238	995	:	32	117,652
2015	35,110	116,623	497	1,402	123	95	153,850
2016	42,128	135,892	411	2,571	286	5	181,293
2017	41,964	114,461	664	4,486	261	4	161,840
2018	49,778	99,100	1,328	6,921	727	11	157,865
2019	49,132	85,284	3,803	10,165	1,349	15	149,748
2020	34,586	64,008	4,443	10,433	2,496	548	116,514
Source: CSO, Vehicle Licensing Statistics
¹Break in series in 2015, see Appendix 1.
²Plug-in Electric Hybrid includes both petrol/electric and diesel/electric hybrid vehicles.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2020 Table 3.11 (XLS 15KB)

In Ireland, the total number of vehicles licensed for the first time in 2020 was 116,514.

In 2020, diesel vehicles were the most common type of vehicle licensed for the first time at 54.9% (or 64,008 vehicles). This was followed by petrol vehicles (34,586 or 29.7%), petrol/electric hybrids (10,433 or 9.0%) and electric only vehicles (4,443 or 3.8%).

Although the number of plug-in electric hybrids and electric only licensed vehicles was low compared to diesel and petrol in 2020, the percentage of such vehicles increased 85.0% and 16.8% from 1,349 and 3,803 respectively compared to 2019.

Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020

Environment

By country: Greenhouse gas emissions

Ireland: Greenhouse gas emissions

Ireland: Air pollutant emissions

Ireland: Particulate matter in urban areas

Ireland: Annual average fine particulate matter

By country: Energy productivity

Ireland: Municipal waste generated, recovered, and landfilled

By country: Municipal waste generated and treated

By country: Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants

By country: Modal split of inland freight transport

Ireland: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time by type

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