Vital Statistics

There were 75,065 births registered in 2008, 38,593 male, 36,472 female. This was the highest number of births recorded since 1896, when 75,332 people were born.

Dublin had 20,624 births, the highest in the country. Longford, with 728 births, had the lowest rate.

Forty-six children were born to women aged 15 and under while 25,414 females aged between 30-34 gave birth. Women aged 45 and older gave birth to 149 children.

Of all the 75,065 births in 2008, 24,844 were out of marriage.

The most popular babies' names last year were Jack (1,141) and Ava (685)

Last year, 28,192 deaths were registered – 14,413 males and 13,779 females. The most common cause of death were diseases of the circulatory system (9,883). Injuries and poisonings accounted for 1,663 fatalities and 424 people committed suicide.

In 2007 there were 7,076 cases of non-melanoma skin cancer. The next most common form of cancer was prostate, with 2,536 cases, while 2,479 people were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Nineteen males aged between five and nine died in 2008. Among the over-95s, 214 passed away. The highest male death rate (4,485) was in the 75-84 age group. Nine females aged between five and nine died in 2008 while 787 aged 95 years or older died. The highest female age group for deaths was 85-94 (4,475).

By 2042, the average life expectancy is predicted to be 87 for males and 88 for females.

There were 22,243 marriages registered in 2008, down 301 from the previous year.

Some 3,630 divorces were granted in 2008. Dublin had the highest rate of divorce with 1,260 while 28 divorces were granted in Monaghan and Longford.

Education

Among males, 265,600 have a third-level qualification or higher while 303,500 females have a third-level degree or higher. At the other end of the scale, 219,900 males have a primary school education or lower while 178,100 females only attended primary school or lower.

Currently, 490,838 children are at primary school, 338,682 are at second level while 148,014 people are studying at third level.

There were 30,368 teachers in the first- level system in 2008, 25,500 females and 4,868 males.

While 89.8% of male Leaving Cert students sat the Irish exam in 2008, only 6% of males did home economics.

Overall, 69% of candidates in last year's Leaving Cert took lower level maths, 49% lower level Irish and 2% lower level chemistry.

Crime

There were 89 homicides in Ireland in 2008, 133 in 2007, and 137 in 2006. Last year, there were 19,254 attempts at murder, assault and harassment. This compared to 17,585 in 2007 and 15,442 in 2006.

During 2007, the most likely place to fall victim to an armed robbery involving a firearm was in a shop (73 incidents), a bookmakers (45 incidents) or a house or apartment (30 incidents).

Drug offences increased by over a quarter between 2007 and 2008.

In 2007, 12,502 motor­ists were stopped for dangerous driving. This compares to 5,810 in 2006.

On 1 September 2008, 2,872 people were serving prison sentences. Just 61 of those were female. Nearly a quarter (24%) of individuals in custody were serving sentences of between five and 10 years while 4% were serving jail time of under six months. Of the 2,811 males incarcerated, 752 were aged between 30-39 while 280 were between 18-20.

In 2008, there were 302 members of An Garda Síochána per 100,000 population, a drop of 15 since 2007 when there were 317 gardaí per 100,000. The figure for 1998 was 303.

While 14.6% of households in urban areas were victims of crime in 2008, in rural areas, only 6.3% of households were targetted.

Labour market

In 2008, 2,239,600 were in employment and 126,700 were unemployed. In 1998, 1,505,500 were employed with 127,800 officially out of work.

Last year, 1,097,500 men were in full-time employment while the figure for women was 922,700.

The construction industry was the biggest employer of men in 2008 (228,200) while the biggest sector for females was the human health and social work sector (183,100).

In 2008, the construction sector accounted for over 11% of those at work compared with 13% in 2007. A staggering 28,500 jobs were lost in the sector between 2007 and 2008.

By the end of 2008, 12 industrial disputes were in progress and just under 4,200 working days had been lost.

In total, 40,607 people were officially made redundant in 2008. The sectors headed 'Energy' and 'Water' had the fewest redundancies at 130 while 'Other' is listed as having had 12,350 lay-offs.

Tourism, travel & transport

Irish residents made 7,877,000 trips abroad in 2008, while 7,839,000 visited Ireland ? down 2% from 2007.

Of those who visited here, 1,334,000 did so for business, 3,698,000 for holidays and 2,276,000 to visit family or friends.

Over half a million (551,000) people who flew into Ireland last year left on the same day.

In 2007, 197,866 driving tests were conducted. The overall pass rate was 55% – 55.9% of men and 54.6% of women.

The most popular cars registered in Ireland in 2008 were Toyota (20,474), Ford (18,403) and Volkswagen (15,700). The least popular car registered was Ssangyong (163) followed by Alfa Romeo (323) and Subaru (342).

External trade

Exports rose from €83.9bn in 2000 to €86.2bn in 2008. During this period, exports to Britain fell from €17.1bn to €14.3bn while exports to Belgium increased from €4.1bn to €12.2bn.

Chemicals accounted for just over half of Ireland's exports in 2008. This was mainly driven by a substantial increase in the exports of medical and pharmaceutical products, which rose from €5.3bn in 2000 to €16.7bn in 2008.

Imports rose from €55.9bn to €57bn between 2000 and 2008. Imports from China grew by 171% while imports from the USA and Japan fell by 27% and 57% respectfully.

Trade in electrical machinery, computers, cars and textiles was lower in 2008 than in 2000.

The amount of vegetables and fruit imported between 2000 and 2008 increased by 78%, petroleum by 150%, aircraft by 108%, gas by 416% and iron and steel by 83%.

Prices

The average ladies' wash, cut and blow dry cost €39.30 in 2008. In 2003 it was €28.23.

The average cost of a litre of diesel last year was €1.26. In 2003, it was 81 cent. A litre of petrol cost 87 cent in 2003 and €1.21 last year.

Entry into an average nightclub cost €10.53 in 2005. Last year it had fallen to €10.30.

In 2008, the average cost of a house in Dublin was €370,495, down from €416,225 in 2007. Last year, the average cost of a house in the country as a whole was €305,269, down from €322,634 in 2007.

Earnings

In 2007, the average annual earnings (including bonuses and benefit-in-kind) was €37,726. Annual bonuses and benefit-in-kind averaged €2,120.

Women earned just 72.9% of the average salary for men in 2007, which was €43,099, compared to €31,403 for a woman.

Managers and administrators earned an average of €61,690 in 2007, sales workers €26,523.

Those with primary education or lower earned €30,814, workers who had completed secondary education earned €32,537. Those with a post Leaving Cert qualification averaged €35,843 while third-level non-degree holders earned €38,090. Third-level degree holders and above earned an average of €51,077.

People with less than five years' work experience earned €24,871 in 2007, those with between five and nine years' experience were on €32,054, 10 to 19 years' at work earned €39,689. Those in the workforce for between 20 and 29 years earned an average of €43,732 while people with 30 or more years' experience received €47,894.

Economy, public finance & banking

A deficit of €9.4bn was recorded in the current account of the balance of payments in 2008. The average deficit over the previous three years was €8.6bn.

The general government balance in 2008 was a deficit of €13,277,000.

Lending by credit institutions to private households fell from €148bn in 2007 to €138bn in 2008, the first ever recorded fall.

National debt as a percentage of GDP fell to 44.2% in 2008, down from 94.2% in 1990.

Agriculture and fishing

In June 2008 there were 6.7 million cattle, 5.1 million sheep and 1.5 million pigs being farmed.

The total area farmed in 2008 was 4.2 million hectares. Crops, fruit and horticulture accounted for 10%, silage for 25%, hay for 6%, pasture for 49% and rough grazing for 11% of the total farmed land.

Some 1,665,000 cattle were sent for slaughter in 2008 while 2,578,000 pigs and 2,919,000 sheep came into the food chain.

Services and distribution

Retail sales decreased by 6.1% in volume during 2008. Motor trade volume decreased by 17.1%.

Industry

Industrial sector turnover increased by 25% between 2000 and 2006.

In 2006, 54% of the total turnover of industrial enterprises was accounted for by those employing over 500 people, a drop of 2% on 2005.

In 2006, there were 4,620 industrial enterprises employing 233,000 people, with a turnover of just over €125bn.

Building and construction

In 2007, 1,344 building and construction firms employed at least 20 people. 92,715 people were employed by these 1,344 firms and received a total of €4,349,090 in wages on total turnovers of €19,752,020.

In 2008 17,491 planning applications for new developments were granted. This was down from 22,253 in 2007. 47,806 new houses received planning permission while 19,778 apartments were given the green light.

The CSO Statistical Yearbook of Ireland is now available priced €20. It can also be downloaded in full for free from www.cso.ie