Migration (1.3, 1.4)
Emigrants are persons resident in Ireland leaving to live abroad for one year or more.
Immigrants are persons coming to Ireland from another country for the purpose of taking up residence for one year or more.
Net migration is the numbers of immigrants less emigrants in a given time period.
Means of travel to work (1.4)
Data are compiled based on responses to the following question from the 2006 and 2016 Censuses of Population:
“How do you usually travel to work, school or college?”
There were 11 response categories including a category for persons working mainly at or from home. Only one response was allowed per person. Data in this table refer to persons aged 15 and over who are at work.
Time taken to travel to work (1.5)
Data are compiled based on responses to the following question from the 2016 Census of Population:
“How long does your journey to work, school or college usually take?”
Time taken to travel to work, school or college was recorded in minutes. Data in this table refer to persons aged 15 and over who are at work, excluding those who work mainly at or from home.
Driving licences (1.9)
Data on driving licences are held in the National Vehicle and Driver File of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. The data shown reflect the position at 31 December 2018.
Age of women at birth of first child (2.1, 2.2)
The national definition of the average age at maternity of first birth used in Table 2.1 is 0.5 plus the sum of the products of the ages at maternity of first live births and the number of first live births for each age divided by the number of first live births up to and including 2011. From 2012 onwards the exact age of the mother is captured and so the average age at maternity of first births is the sum of the products of the ages at maternity of first live births and their ages divided by the number of first live births.
The Eurostat (Statistical Office of the European Union) definition of the average (or mean) age of women at birth of first child in Table 2.2 is the mean age of women when their children are born (live births).
Childbearing years are regarded as between the ages of 15 and 49. Live births to mothers aged less than 15 are included in the age 15 category and are divided by the age 15 population. Similarly live births to mothers aged greater than 49 are included in the age 49 category and are divided by the age 49 population.
Total fertility rate (2.2)
The mean number of children that would be born alive to a woman during her lifetime if she were to pass through her childbearing years conforming to the fertility rates by age of a given year. The total fertility rate is also used to indicate the replacement level fertility; in more developed countries, a rate of 2.1 is considered to be replacement level.
Life expectancy (2.3, 2.4)
Life expectancy is the mean number of years still to be lived by a person who has reached a certain exact age, if subjected throughout the rest of his or her life to current mortality conditions, (age-specific probabilities of dying).
Age-sex specific death rates (2.5)
Age-sex specific death rates are the number of male/female deaths in a particular age group as a proportion of the number (in units of 100,000) of men/women of that age group in the population.
Cause of death categories (2.6)
Deaths are coded according to the ninth revision of the International Standard Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of death.
Medical cards (2.7)
Persons who are unable without undue hardship to arrange General Practitioner medical and surgical services plus dental and optometric services for themselves and their dependants are provided with such services free of charge by being provided with a medical card issued by the HSE. Between 2001 and 2008 everyone aged 70 and over was entitled to a medical card; however, from January 2009 only persons with income under certain limits are entitled to a card. All existing medical cards for people aged over 70 were valid until 2 March 2009 and after that date the cards remained valid only if the person’s income was below the relevant income threshold. Data in Table 2.7 on medical cards refer to the situation on 31 December 2018.
An eligible person is entitled to select a doctor of his/her choice from among those doctors who have entered into agreements with Health Boards.
Acute hospital discharges (2.8, 2.9)
Data on hospital discharges are obtained from the Hospital In-patient Enquiry (HIPE) system. HIPE is a health information system designed to collect clinical and administrative data on activity from all publicly funded acute hospitals. The Economic and Social Research Institute manages the HIPE system.
National Intellectual Disability Database (2.10)
The NIDD was decommissioned in 2018 and replaced by a new database, NASS (National Ability Supports System). As such, the 2017 data is the last available data from the NIDD. NASS data is not yet available.
The National Intellectual Disability Database was established in 1995 to ensure that information is available to enable the Department of Health, the HSE and voluntary agencies in the Republic of Ireland to provide appropriate services designed to meet the changing needs of people with intellectual disability (mental handicap) and their families.
The database was established on the principle that minimum information with maximum accuracy was preferred, hence it incorporates only three basic elements of information:
The objective was to obtain this information for every individual known to have an intellectual disability and assessed as being in receipt of, or in need of, an intellectual disability service. Information pertaining to diagnosis is specifically excluded, as the database is not designed as a medical epidemiological tool. The data held in any individual record represent the information available for that person at a specified point in time only. The record was updated whenever there are changes in the person’s circumstances or during the annual review process.
Admissions to psychiatric hospitals (2.11)
This covers admissions to all psychiatric in-patient facilities in Ireland. Data on admissions are obtained from two main sources, the National Psychiatric In-Patient Reporting System (NPIRS) and the Department of Health’s annual end-of-year returns.
Carer’s Allowance and Benefit (2.12, 2.13)
Carer's Allowance is a payment for carers on low incomes who live with and look after certain people in need of full-time care and attention.
Carer's Benefit is a payment made to insured persons who leave the workforce to care for a person(s) in need of full-time care and attention.
Carers (2.13)
Data on carers were derived from answers to question 22 of the 2016 Census of Population questionnaire which asked all persons
"Do you provide regular unpaid personal help for a friend or family member with a long-term illness, health problem or disability?"
Problems which are due to old age are included. Personal help includes help with basic tasks such as feeding or dressing. Receipt of “Carer’s Allowance” was not considered payment for the purposes of this question. "Meals on Wheels” staff were not considered carers for the purpose of this question.
Health Service Personnel (2.15)
Data are from the Health Service Personnel Census from the Health Service Executive (HSE) and reflects the position as of 31 December 2019.
Young People Neither in Employment nor in Education and Training (3.1)
The indicator on young people neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET) corresponds to the percentage of the population of a given age group and sex who are not employed and not involved in further education or training.
The numerator of the indicator refers to persons who meet the following two conditions:
and
The denominator in the total population consists of the same age group and sex, excluding the respondents who have not answered the question 'participation in regular (formal) education and training'. Due to no answers to the variable 'participation in education and training' or 'educational attainment level', certain breakdowns of NEET rates may not exactly sum up to the overall NEET rate for a given age group and sex.
Both the numerators and the denominators come from the European Union Labour Force Survey and the Labour Force Survey in Ireland.
ISCED 1997 and ISCED 2011 (3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6)
The International standard Classification of Education (ISCED) is the basis for international education statistics. The 1997 version of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) is used in tables 3.5 and 3.7 (for years up to and including 2012). The 2011 version is used in tables 3.3, 3.6 (for years 2013 to 2015), 3.8 and 3.9.
The seven levels used in ISCED 1997 are detailed below.
The eight levels of education used in the 2011 version of the ISCED are detailed below.
The table below summarises the correspondence between ISCED 2011 and ISCED 1997 levels (at 1-digit ISCED 1997).
ISCED 97 (data up to 2012) |
ISCED 11 (data from 2013 onwards) |
ISCED 01 |
|
ISCED 0 |
ISCED 0 |
ISCED 1 |
ISCED 1 |
ISCED 2 |
ISCED 2 |
ISCED 3 |
ISCED 3 1 |
ISCED 4 |
ISCED 4 1 |
ISCED 5 |
ISCED 5 |
ISCED 6 |
|
ISCED 7 |
|
ISCED 6 |
ISCED 8 |
1Content of category has been modified slightly.
Classroom teachers (3.7, 3.8)
Classroom teachers are defined as professional personnel involved in direct student instruction, including the planning, organising and conducting of group activities whereby students’ knowledge, skills and attitudes develop as stipulated by educational programmes.
The classification includes:
but excludes:
School management personnel (3.9)
Head-teachers are defined as school-level management personnel such as principals, assistant principals, headmasters, assistant headmasters and other management staff with similar responsibilities. It excludes receptionists, secretaries, clerks and other staff who support the administrative activities of the school. Head-teachers may have teaching-responsibilities. If so, the amount of teaching is included in the number of full-time equivalent teachers, while when undertaking head-counts, the personnel is pro-rated between functions to get a correct count of individuals in total employed in education.
Gender Equality Index (4.1)
The Gender Equality Index (GEI) is a unique measurement tool, produced by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). It is formed by combining gender indicators, according to a conceptual framework, into a single summary measure. It consists of six core domains (work, money, knowledge, time, power and health) and two satellite domains (intersecting inequalities and violence). The GEI measures how far (or close) the EU28 and its Member States were from achieving complete gender equality in 2015. It provides results at both Member States and EU28 level. The GEI also provides result for each domain and sub-domain.
The GEI measures gender gaps that are adjusted to levels of achievement, ensuring that gender gaps cannot be regarded positively where they point to an adverse situation for both women and men. The GEI assigns scores for Member States, between 1 (total inequality) and 100 (full equality).
The need for the GEI was initially introduced by the European Commission in the Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men 2006-2010 and subsequently included in the Action Plan of its Strategy for Equality between Women and Men 2010-2015. EIGE undertook the task of constructing a composite indicator that reflects the multifaceted reality of gender equality and is specifically tailored towards the policy framework of the European Union.
The GEI provides a synthetic measure of gender equality that is easy to understand and to communicate. It measures gender equality in the EU and its Member States and provides a tool to support decision-makers in assessing how far a given Member State is from reaching gender equality. The GEI allows meaningful comparisons between different gender equality priority domains and measures achievements in the area of gender equality over time.
The six core domains are:
The scores of the GEI (see indicator 1.7) show that gender equality remains far from a reality in the EU:
Gender balance of Senior Roles (4.2)
The Gender Balance in Business Survey 2019 provides the first official statistics from the CSO on gender representation in Senior Executive teams and Boards of Directors of large enterprises in Ireland. The survey was conducted in response to the Balance for Better Business initiative and it aims to provide benchmark information on gender representation. The CSO plans to repeat this survey every two years to track future trends.
The survey was collected by the CSO between February and April 2019. The online questionnaire asked for the gender breakdown of the Senior Executive team and Boards of Directors.
The scope of the survey is large enterprises (i.e. those with over 250 employees). A total of about 600 enterprises were surveyed and the response rate to the survey was 55%. The survey returns analysed in this report comprise about 3,700 persons in Senior Executive positions or on Boards of Directors in the respondent enterprises.
The results from the sample are unweighted and are presented as percentage breakdowns between male and female.
The survey covered all large enterprises, i.e. those with over 250 employees. The sectors included in the survey were NACE sections B to S excluding NACE sections O, P and Q (see below for explanation of NACE classification).
Classification by Sector
The results include a breakdown into the following NACE Rev 2 sections (NACE is the EU classification of Economic Activity):
Section B: Mining and quarrying
Section C: Manufacturing
Section D: Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
Section E: Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
Section F: Construction
Section G: Wholesale and retail trade; Repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
Section H: Transportation and storage
Section I: Accommodation and food service activities
Section J: Information and communication
Section K: Financial and insurance activities
Section L: Real estate activities
Section M: Professional, scientific and technical activities
Section N: Administrative and support service activities
Section R: Arts, entertainment and recreation
Section S: Other service activities
NACE sections O (Public administration and Defence), P (Education) and Q (Human Health and social work activities) were not included in the survey.
Further information on the NACE Rev 2 classification is available at: CSO Classifications
Lone parents (4.3)
A lone parent family unit consists of one parent and one or more of his or her never-married children. The number of lone parent family units may be understated as there are problems identifying lone parent families particularly where the lone parent lives with his/her parents. The QNHS does not specifically ask a person if he or she is a lone parent.
One-parent family payment (4.4)
One-Parent Family Payment is a means-tested payment which is made to men or women who are caring for a child or children without the support of a partner. The scheme was introduced on 2 January 1997, and replaced the Lone Parents Allowance and Deserted Wife’s Benefit schemes.
Members of Parliament (4.5)
The data in this table have been compiled by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) on the basis of information provided by national parliaments in the reference year.
New legislation in Ireland, introduced before the 2016 General Election, required political parties to ensure that at least 30% of their candidates were female (and that at least 30% were male). If this condition was not met by a political party then official funding for the party was halved.
Women and men in decision-making (Figure 4.3 and 4.4))
The data for Seanad Eireann is related to the year 2016. The other national and regional figures describe the position in 2018.
Civil service general service grades (4.6)
The number of persons at each grade should be taken as broadly correct as the distinction between general service and technical grade staff is not fully precise. Data in this table refer to the situation at December 2018 and exclude the Irish Prison Service, Foreign Affairs Local Recruits Serving Abroad, the National Gallery and the Commission for Public Service Appointments.
Grants to high-performance athletes (4.7, 4.8)
The International Carding Scheme was introduced in 1998 to provide a range of supports to assist elite athletes realise their potential to perform successfully at the highest international level. The Carding Scheme is administered by Sport Ireland. Following a review of the scheme it was decided that grants to junior and developmental athletes would be excluded from the scheme from 2012. Payments in respect of these athletes are incorporated into general grant payments to the relevant National Governing Bodies under the High Performance Planning programme.
Arts Council grants program (4.9, 4.10)
Arts Council supports for artists in 2017 were administered through 4 programmes:
The data in these tables are a representation of Arts Council financial support to the individual artist under the programmes identified at 1 to 3 above. Supports to the individual artist under item 4 above have not been included in this instance as a detailed gender breakdown is not available.
Income liable for social insurance (4.11, 4.12)
These tables are based on data supplied to the CSO from the Department of Social Protection and Revenue and refer to all income (from both employees and the self-employed) which is liable for social insurance. In general, the earnings or income details for all persons, except the self-employed, relate to income from employment and do not include any social welfare payments, investment incomes or rental income. They could, however, include private pension incomes. The income details for self-employed persons contain all returns including earnings, rental and investment incomes.
Private pension contributions are not liable for social insurance contributions and hence are not included in the income figures. In some cases this may be a very significant exclusion.
Median Earned Income (4.13, 4.14)
These tables come from the publication Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2016, which examines both household and individual income at a detailed geographical level across the areas of housing, health, education, occupation and commuting.
Earned income was defined as annual gross earnings for 2016 from P35 employee income and IT form 11 self-employed trading income before deductions such as tax and PRSI from Revenue unadjusted for hours and/or weeks worked.
Education was defined as in Census 2016, where persons aged 18 years and over were asked what was the highest level of education (full or part time) completed to date. The levels ranged from no formal education to a tertiary post doctorate degree.
Occupation was classified as in Census 2016, which is based on the UK Standard Occupational Classification, with modifications to reflect Irish labour market conditions.
Employment rate (5.1, 5.2, 5.3 and 5.10)
The employment rate is defined as the number of persons in employment aged 15-64 as a percentage of the population aged 15-64: this is the International Labour Office (ILO) definition and is based on data collected in the Labour Force Survey, which was called the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) in Ireland up to 2018 Q2, and was changed to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) from Q3 2017 onwards. The CSO has worked closely with users to minimise the disruption arising from the new survey and will continue to work closely with users to continue to meet their needs.
This survey covers persons aged 15 years and over living in private households. Persons living in collective households (halls of residence, medical care establishments, religious institutions, collective workers' accommodation, hostels, etc.) and persons carrying out obligatory military service are not included.
The ILO classification distinguishes the following main sub-groups of the population aged 15 or over:
or
Persons classified as unemployed are persons who, in the week before the survey:
and
The ILO labour force consists of persons in employment and unemployed persons.
All data relating to the ILO labour force refer to the second quarter (April to June) of the reference year unless otherwise stated.
EU
Data for the 28 EU Member States have been provided where the table has the term “EU”. The EU increased its membership from 15 to 25 countries on 1 May 2004, to 27 countries on 1 January 2007 and to 28 countries on 1 July 2013.
Labour force participation rate (5.4, 5.5)
The labour force participation rate is the numbers of persons in the (ILO) labour force expressed as a percentage of the population aged 15 or over.
Occupation (5.6)
As a result of changes to the European regulations governing the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, (called the QNHS in Ireland until mid 2017, and LFS after that), the CSO is obliged to report occupational coding data to Eurostat based on the new Europe wide classification ISCO-08 from Q1 2011 onwards. To allow this requirement to be met the CSO changed to using UK SOC 2010 as the primary classification, from which ISCO-08 can be derived. This change was also implemented for the 2011 and 2016 Census results.
Economic sector (5.7)
The classification used for economic sectors is NACE Rev. 2 which is the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community. NACE is an acronym, (Nomenclature générale des Activités économiques dans les Communautés Européennes), used to designate the various statistical classifications of economic activities developed since 1970 in the European Union.
Usual hours worked (5.8, 5.9)
The number of hours usually worked covers all hours including extra hours, either paid or unpaid, which the person normally works, but excludes the travel time between the home and the place of work as well as the main meal breaks (normally taken at midday). Persons who usually also work at home are asked to include the number of hours they usually work at home. Apprentices, trainees and other persons in vocational training are asked to exclude the time spent in school or other special training centres. When a respondent is unable to provide a figure for usual hours (because their hours vary considerably over time), the average of the hours actually worked per week over the past four weeks is used as a measure of usual hours.
Unemployment rate (5.11,5.12,5.13) and long-term unemployment rate (5.12)
The unemployment rate is the number of persons unemployed expressed as a percentage of the (ILO) labour force.
The long-term unemployment rate is the number of persons unemployed for one year or more expressed as a percentage of the (ILO) labour force.
Persons in employment aged 20-69 with a pensions (5.15)
A module on pension coverage was included on the QNHS in Q4 of both 2009 and 2015 which focused on occupational pension schemes and/or personal pension arrangements. Pensions paid through the State Social Welfare system were not included.
Principal Economic Status (5.16)
This classification is based on a single question in which respondents are asked what is their situation with regard to employment and given the following response categories:
Gender pay gap (5.17)
The unadjusted gender pay gap is published by Eurostat and represents the difference between average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees and of female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees. From reference year 2006 onwards the gender pay gap is based on the methodology of the EU Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) which is carried out with a four-yearly periodicity. In Ireland data requirements for the SES were met using the National Employment Survey (NES) up until 2010. Data for years 2011 - 2014 was produced using a range of administrative data sources. The most recent available reference year for the SES is 2014. The target population consists of all paid employees in enterprises with 10 employees or more in NACE rev.2 aggregate B to S (excluding O). This covers all economic sectors with the exception of Agriculture, forestry and fishing, Public administration and defence, Activities of households as employers and Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies.
At risk of poverty rate (6.1, 6.2, 6.3)
The at risk of poverty rate before/after social transfers and pensions (i.e., old-age and survivors’ benefits) shows the percentage of persons in the total population having an equivalised disposable income before/after social transfers and pensions that is below the national ‘at risk of poverty threshold’ which is set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income.
Data for Tables 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3 are obtained from the SILC survey (Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) and the EU definition of income is used. The national definition of income is used in the CSO publication ‘Survey on Income and Living Conditions in Ireland’. The key differences between the national and EU definitions of income are:
The EU definition of gross income does not include income from private pensions. These are defined as private schemes fully organised by the individual, where contributions are at the discretion of the contributor independently of their employer or the State. Thus, private pensions do not include occupational or State pensions.
The EU definition of income does not include the value of goods produced for own consumption, while the national definition does.
All contributions to pension plans, except for those to private pension plans, are deducted from gross income when calculating disposable income under the EU definition. No pension contributions of any kind are deducted from gross income in the calculation of disposable income for national purposes from the national definition of income.
Employer’s social insurance contributions are included in the national definition of income. They are deducted from gross income in the calculation of net income. They are not included in any EU calculations of income. Employer’s social insurance contributions include contributions to private health insurance and life assurance schemes.
For EU at risk of poverty rates, the equivalised disposable income for each person is calculated as the household total net income divided by the equivalised household size according to the modified OECD scale (which gives a weight of 1.0 to the first adult, 0.5 to other persons aged 14 or over who are living in the household and 0.3 to each child aged less than 14). The national equivalence scale used to obtain the equivalised household size attributes a weight of 1 to the first adult in a household, 0.66 to each subsequent adult (aged 14+ living in the household) and 0.33 to each child aged less than 14. The purpose of an equivalence scale is to account for the size and composition of different income units (households) and thus allows for a more accurate comparison between households. However, numerous scales have been developed, and there is no real consensus as regards the most appropriate scale to use. For EU purposes, the modified OECD scale has been accepted to allow comparison across countries.
Offence categories (6.4)
In 2010 the Irish Prison Service re-categorised the offence groups under which prisoners’ convictions are recorded. The Irish Prison Service statistics are now compiled using the Irish Crime Classification System (ICCS), which is also used by An Garda Síochána, the Courts Service, the Probation Service and the CSO. Full details of the ICCS are available via the CSO website.
Serious assault (6.5)
The UNECE gender statistics database defines serious assault as “Serious assaults as reported by the police, i.e. crimes that are reported to, detected by, or otherwise drawn to the attention of the police”. In the case of Ireland, the figure refers to victims of assault causing harm, poisoning and other serious assault offences. Minor assaults are not included.
Sexual assault (6.5)
The UNECE gender statistics database defines sexual assault as “Sexual assault as reported by the police. Sexual assault comprises rapes, attempted rapes and indecent and sexual assaults (“offensive behaviour” excluded)”.
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