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Sustainable Development Indicators Ireland 2017

Social

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3.1 Ireland: Employment rate by age class 2000-2016

  • The employment rate for those aged between 15 and 19 years declined from 29% in 2000 to 9% in 2012 before rising to 15% in 2016.
  • The percentage of those aged 65 years and older in employment increased from 8% in 2000 to 11% in 2016.
  • The employment rate for those aged between 25 and 54 years varied between 69% and 79% over the 2000-2016 period. It was 75% in 2016.
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Annual average unemployment rate
198516.6818596171376
198617.0755717098289
198716.9098391320614
198816.3440536265723
198915.0481725034409
199012.9419713234742
199114.6559362079149
199215.0605044467124
199315.6855758266819
199414.7387538418553
199512.158179699815
199611.8739635157546
199710.3320553642212
19987.9
19996
20004.6
20013.9
20024.5
20034.6
20044.6
20054.8
20064.7
20074.8
20085.8
200912.3
201013.9
201114.6
201215
201313.9
201411.9
20159.8
20168.6
  • The unemployment rate fell from 17.1% in 1986 to 12.9% in 1990 before rising to 15.7% in 1993. From then it fell every year until 2001, and remained around 5% until 2007. In 2008, the unemployment rate began to rise again, and stood at 15% in 2012, before falling to 8.6% in 2016.
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EmigrationImmigration
198740.217.2
198861.119.2
198970.626.7
199056.333.3
199135.333.3
199233.440.7
199335.134.7
199434.830.1
199533.131.2
199631.239.2
199725.344.5
199828.646
199931.548.9
200026.652.6
200126.259
200225.666.9
200329.360
200426.558.5
200529.484.6
200636107.8
200746.3151.1
200849.2113.5
20097273.7
201069.241.8
201180.653.3
201287.152.7
20138955.9
201481.960.6
201580.969.3
201676.279.3
  • Almost 71,000 persons emigrated in 1989. The level of emigration fell to a low of 25,300 in 1997 before rising to 89,000 in 2013. In 2016 it stood at 76,200.
  • Immigration increased from 17,200 persons in 1987 to over 151,000 in 2007, but fell significantly over the next three years to just below 42,000 in 2010. It has increased since then and was estimated at 79,300 in 2016.
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Net migration
1951-35
1952-35
1953-33
1954-36
1955-45
1956-48
1957-41
1958-58
1959-32
1960-41
1961-40
1962-15
1963-8
1964-17
1965-20
1966-21
1967-13
1968-16
1969-15
1970-5
1971-5
197211
197313
197416
197520
197616
197710
19787
197916
1980-8
19812
1982-1
1983-14
1984-9
1985-20
1986-28
1987-23
1988-41.9
1989-43.9
1990-22.9
1991-2
19927.4
1993-0.4
1994-4.7
1995-1.9
19968
199719.2
199817.4
199917.3
200026
200132.8
200241.3
200330.7
200432
200555.1
200671.8
2007104.8
200864.3
20091.6
2010-27.5
2011-27.4
2012-34.4
2013-33.1
2014-21.4
2015-11.6
20163.1
  • The total net migration from Ireland was 579,000 persons between 1951 and 1971, with emigration exceeding immigration in every year.
  • Immigration peaked in the period 1996 to 2009, when it exceeded emigration by a total of 522,000 persons. From 2010 to 2015 the numbers emigrating have exceeded those immigrating by between 12,000 and 34,000 per year. In 2016 net migration was 3,000.
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3.2 EU: People at risk of poverty 2007-2015

  • In 2015, the Czech Republic had the lowest at risk of poverty rate after social transfers at 10%. Ireland, at 17%, had the 15th lowest at risk of poverty rate in the EU and equalled the EU average rate of 17% also.
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Old age dependency rate
199617.5918055083305
199717.3306689979601
199817.1713456744718
199916.9499015708489
200016.741564175339
200116.5958761294308
200216.4292712337026
200316.3466873820886
200416.3426245593633
200516.2649748351882
200615.9146446394769
200715.5929285572403
200815.6643673694096
200916.1034182240728
201016.7137155650735
201117.3351594599883
201218.0646434090685
201318.8280913399397
201419.505220456208
201520.1986534231051
201620.7883279603842
  • The old age dependency rate is calculated by dividing the estimated population aged 65 years and over by the estimated population aged 15 to 64. In 2016, there were four persons in the 15 to 64 age group for every person aged 65 and over.
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PersonsMalesFemales
192615.553224381625414.517483822797416.4838159660107
193612.123104184398210.905155590249413.3004959902311
194612.528235376461111.220948169477613.8095478083383
195113.961206229001512.983913621176714.9002497629421
196117.639329277001716.320079296511418.8277526395173
196617.300244267152115.949422803753318.47068612835
197117.375287657775915.784302661364718.7128171356498
197916.727222414389514.132835894163318.8582056076651
198117.196181637819414.12070249359819.6892590211561
198617.780957708368614.303832727833120.5018921826884
199119.543559195830216.044322924161822.1961383222428
199621.850189184356917.852548913411424.8446942484047
200223.069442501278718.38122174935926.661967380472
200624.270271906982419.172583074184928.3135800936986
201124.07974219424619.325675256131628.0401257983089
201623.53253422741119.867868694515226.713257473942
  • Persons aged 80 and over as a proportion of persons aged 65 and over remained stable at around 17% between 1961 and 1981. It has since risen steadily to 24% in 2016. Females aged 80 and over as a proportion of females over 65 stood at 27% in 2016, while the proportion of males was 20%.
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3.3 Ireland: Life expectancy 1901-2011

  • In 1901, life expectancy at birth for males was 49 years and 50 years for females. This has increased in the intervening years, and in 2011, life expectancy for males was 78 years, and for females it was 83 years.
  • Similarly, life expectancy at age 65 has increased. In 1901, both 65 year old males and females could expect to live for a further 11 years. By 2011, this had increased to 18 years for males and 21 for females.
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3.4 Ireland: Pupil-teacher ratio 1995-2015

  • Pupil-teacher ratios in primary schools aided by the Department of Education and Skills fell from 22.7 in 1995 to 15.7 in 2010. The ratio has hovered around 16 since then.
  • The pupil-teacher ratio in second level schools aided by the Department of Education and Skills was 16 in 1995 and fell to 12.9 in 2007. It increased to 14.3 in 2012 before falling to 14.1 in 2015.
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3.5 EU: Average class sizes 2014

  • Luxembourg had the lowest average class size in primary schools among EU member states at 8.9 in 2014 compared with an EU average of 14.8. Malta had the lowest average class size in lower secondary schools among EU member states at 7.0 in 2014 compared with an EU average of 12.5.
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3.6 Ireland:Second level and third level completion rates 1995-2016

  • The proportion of 20-24 year olds who completed secondary school in Ireland increased from 74% in 1995 to 93% in 2016.
  • In 2016, 52% of 25-34 year olds had a third level education. This rate increased from 27% in 1995.
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3.7 Ireland: Usual means of travel to school by children aged 5-12 1986-2016

3.8 Ireland: Usual means of travel to school by children aged 13-18 1986-2016

  • The proportion of 5 to 12 year olds (i.e. those of primary school-going age) who travelled to school on foot has fallen from 49% in 1986 to 25% in 2016. The proportion travelling as passengers in cars has, in contrast, risen from 26% in 1986 to 63% over the same period.
  • The proportion of children in the 13-18 age bracket (i.e. those of secondary school-going age) who walked to school fell between 1986 and 2016 from 34% to 22%. The percentage cycling to school has dropped from 16% in 1986 to just 2% in 2016, while those travelling as passengers in cars has grown from 12% in 1986 to 43% in 2016.
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3.9 Ireland: Usual means of travel to work 1981-2016

On footBicycleBusTrain, DART and LUASCar or motorcycle driverCar passengerOther
198117.59279949335265.440902517838612.73426365348841.664202510776149.203616462336610.57047620922132.79373915298645
198616.04040294435757.1651064622773411.00843418540111.8984288661204349.358678742573910.5950399771663.93390882210368
199114.40926337526585.740154008867739.979852295856012.2653603400895951.96896979443410.39354268366515.24285750182174
199613.55402068692734.241523484494858.978616078728352.0615674965127555.855069101060510.27056703154565.03863612073068
200212.36762760960792.30402966379337.219180828320532.224380871912160.84636259305257.290958920328347.74745951298531
200611.70488760205392.066030343433586.541689642476483.1265311278832262.2264598246275.967223264551018.36717819497485
201110.45551485331872.440682996344165.62148718370093.2345196938461465.97282093482154.241072249808998.03390208815966
20169.824562978658453.189391626787816.25319853832413.5426898248323364.67955135169114.339630899900348.17097477980589
  • The proportion of persons aged 15 years and older travelling to work on foot or by bus has fallen from 18% and 13% respectively in 1986 to 10% and 6% in 2016. In contrast, the proportion of persons who drive to work either by car or motorcycle has increased from 49% to 65% over the same period.
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3.10 EU: Obesity levels 2014

  • 20% of Irish males aged 18 years and over were classified as obese in 2014. This was the joint third highest proportion in the EU. The proportion of females over 18 in Ireland who were obese in 2014 was 17% which was joint tenth highest of EU member states.
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litres of pure alcohol consumed by persons aged 15 and over
Italy6.1
Malta7.2
Austria8.5
Sweden8.7
Cyprus9.1
Greece9.3
Netherlands9.6
Denmark10.2
Estonia10.3
Germany10.6
Latvia10.6
Spain10.6
Belgium10.8
Ireland10.9
Slovenia10.9
Luxembourg11.2
Bulgaria11.3
Poland11.5
France11.6
Croatia11.7
Finland11.9
United Kingdom12
Hungary12.4
Portugal12.5
Slovakia12.5
Romania12.9
Czech Republic14.1
Lithuania16.2
  • Lithuania had the highest per capita level of alcohol consumption in the EU at 16.2 litres of pure alcohol consumed by persons aged 15 years and over. Ireland had the 15th highest level of consumption at 10.9 litres per capita.
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3.11 EU: Tobacco consumption 2014

  • Bulgaria had the highest level of tobacco consumption among EU member states in 2014 with 43% of males and 27% of females aged 15 years and over smoking. Tobacco consumption in Ireland is the fifth lowest in the EU for males aged 15 years and over, at 24%. While the proportion of Irish females who smoke was lower than that for males at 20%, this ranks as the 14th lowest among EU member states.

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