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Global

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1.1 World population 2015 and 2030

  • The world’s population was estimated to be 7.3 billion persons in 2015, and is forecast to rise to 8.5 billion by 2030. This increase is forecast to occur mainly in Africa where the population is expected to increase by 493 million (42%) and Asia (excluding China), where the population is forecast to grow by 490 million (16%).
  • The population of Europe is forecast to fall by 1% between 2015 and 2030.
  • The highest proportion of under 15’s is in Africa, where this age group comprised 41% of the population in 2015. Europe had the highest proportion of persons aged 65 and over (18%), and the lowest proportion of persons aged under 15 (16%). China had the second lowest proportion of under 15’s at 17% in 2015.
  • Ireland had a similar proportion of persons aged 15-64 (65%) as in Europe (67%) and the world (66%). However, we had more persons under 15 (22%) than Europe (16%), but less than the overall world figure (26%). Conversely we had fewer persons in the 65 and over age group (13%) than there were in Europe (18%) but we were above the world rate (8%).
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1.2 Infant mortality, child mortality and life expectancy 2010-2015

  • The highest infant and child mortality rates in the world between 2010 and 2015 were in Africa, where 59 children out of every 1,000 died before reaching their first birthday and 90 before reaching their fifth birthday. The lowest rates of infant and child mortality between 2010 and 2015 were in Europe, where 5 children out of 1,000 died before reaching their first birthday and 6 before reaching their fifth birthday. The rates in Ireland (3 for infants and 4 for children) were even lower than in Europe.
  • Africa had the lowest life expectancy at birth, both for males (58 years) and females (61 years). In contrast, life expectancy in North America was 82 years for females and 77 years for males, and in Europe was 81 years for females and 73 years for males.
  • Overall, the life expectancy at birth for females was five years more than that for males.
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1.3 Population in developing regions living below $1.25 per day 1990-2015

  • The UN Millennium Development Goals targeted a halving, between 1990 and 2015, in the proportion of persons whose income was less than $1 per day (later revised to $1.25 per day).
  • The proportion of the population living on less than $1.25 in Sub-Saharan Africa fell from 57% in 1990 to 41% in 2015 compared with a target of 28%. All other regions equalled or bettered the target.
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1.4 Employment rate 2014

  • One of the UN Millennium Development Goals was to achieve full and productive work for all, including women and young people. North Africa (18%) had the lowest female employment rate in 2014 followed by West Asia (20%).
  • Employment rates for youths were also substantially lower than elsewhere in North Africa (22%) and West Asia (26%).
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Official development assistance
Sweden1.4
Norway1.05
Luxembourg0.93
Denmark0.85
Netherlands0.76
United Kingdom0.71
UN target (0.7% of GNI)0.7
Finland0.56
Switzerland0.52
Germany0.52
Belgium0.42
France0.37
Ireland0.36
Austria0.32
Total DAC0.3
Canada0.28
New Zealand0.27
Australia0.27
Iceland0.24
Japan0.22
Italy0.21
United States0.17
Portugal0.16
Slovenia0.15
Greece0.14
Korea0.14
Spain0.13
Czech Republic0.12
Slovakia0.1
Poland0.1
  • In 2015, Ireland ranked 12th in the list of OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors in terms of their contribution as a percentage of Gross National Income at 0.36%, above the DAC average of 0.3% of GNI but below the UN target of 0.7%. Sweden at 1.4% was the largest contributor, relative to its GNI.
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1.5 Net enrolment ratio in primary education 1990-2015

  • The second UN Millennium Development Goal set the objective that by 2015 all children would complete a full course of primary schooling.
  • While the primary education enrolment rate for Sub-Saharan Africa has increased from 53% in 1990, there were still only 80% of children in this region enrolled in primary school in 2015. The figures for all other regions in the world were greater than 90%.
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1.6 Greenhouse gas emissions 1995-2014

  • Of the Annex II countries in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, Turkey had the highest emissions in 2014 relative to the base year of 1990, at 125% above 1990 levels. Ireland’s emissions have fallen since 2005 but still remain 4% above 1990 levels.
  • The United Kingdom had the lowest emissions in 2014, relative to 1990, having fallen to 66% of 1990 levels.

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