Lord of the Dance
Ireland 2016: People, money, jobs, crime, births, marriages...and how many potatoes we actually grow
Life & Style

Ireland 2016: People, money, jobs, crime, births, marriages...and how many potatoes we actually grow

How many people live in in the Republic of Ireland?

Preliminary results of the 2016 census show that the population in 2016 is 4,757,976.

This compares with 4,588,252 persons in April 2011.

Has the population of Ireland increased or declined?

According to the 2016 Census, the population of Ireland increased by 169,724 people with Leinster showing the biggest population increase of 125,906 and Ulster the lowest increase of 1,317 people.

There were 65,909 births registered in 2015 - 1,553 fewer births compared with 2014 and 9,265 fewer births compared to 2010.

A total of 224 children were born to mothers aged 45 and over.

How many same sex marriages and how many civil partnerships were there in 2015?

There were 22,116 marriages in 2015, including 91 same-sex marriages.

There were 376 civil partnership ceremonies in 2015, 250 between males and 126 between females.

Has Ireland’s population gotten older?

People are living longer as can be seen in the changes in the estimated population aged over 65 in 2016, which shows an increase of 21.4 per cent since 2010.

How many vacant holiday homes are there in 2016?

In April 2016 there were 2,022,895 permanent dwellings or housing units in the Irish state.

Of these, 1,718,465 were occupied, while there were 44,686 dwellings where all the occupants were temporarily absent on census night.

A total of 61,204 housing units were classified as vacant holiday homes. The remaining 198,358 were vacant houses and apartments.

How many people are out of work?

The number of persons unemployed in 2009 was 275,000 compared with 254,500 in 2014 and 211,200 in 2015.

The number of people unemployed decreased by 17 per cent between 2014 and 2015.

The numbers in full-time employment were 56,800 higher in 2015 than 2014.

How much crime takes place in Ireland?

There were 62 recorded homicide offences in 2015, the lowest in 13 years. 

Comparing recorded offences between 2014 and 2015, there were falls in burglary and related offences (27,635 to 26,259), and in theft and related offences (77,697 to 75,896).

There were rises in fraud, deception and related offences (5,178 to 5,588) and sexual offences (2,053 to 2,356).

How much do people owe the banks?

The amount owed by households to Irish banks continued to decline in 2015 standing at €91.9billion at the end of the year, compared to €96.9billion in 2014.

Deposits held by households increased from €91.4billion to €94.7billion between 2014 and 2015.

How many beef and dairy cows are there in Ireland?

Since 1855 cattle numbers have increased consistently, from 2.85million peaking at 7.64million in 1998.

Cattle numbers in 2015 stand at 6.96million.

And finally how many potatoes do we actually grow?

In 2015 there were potatoes being grown on 9,000 hectares of land - one hectare is about the size of an international rugby pitch.

Compare this to 1855, when 309,000 hectares of Irish soil was dedicated to the humble spud.

Facts and figures courtesy of The Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2016, published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The Yearbook presents a statistical picture of Ireland and is compiled mainly from the data published by the CSO for the most recent full year (2015).