New figures add up to a fast-growing, less wasteful Ireland
While the Irish population accounts for just under 1pc of the total EU population in 2016, it is among the fastest growing in percentage terms
AMONG the central findings of the ‘Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2016’ report is that Irish people are not just generating less waste, but sending less of it to landfill.
It finds we have made major inroads in reducing waste, with the ‘average’ person generating 564kg in 2014, compared with 750kg a decade before.
Over the same period, the quantity of waste sent to landfill in Ireland dropped by 70pc from 1,819 to 537 thousand tonnes.
Use of landfill to dispose of waste varies widely in EU states, from less than 1pc in Sweden and Belgium – where recycling and incineration rates are high – to more than 80pc in Malta and Greece.
However, changing behaviours here bring us below the EU average, with the percentage of municipal waste sent to landfill in Ireland standing at 20.5pc, compared with 24.4pc on average across the rest of the bloc.
This report from the Central Statistics Office presents an overall view of the social, economic, environment, education and health situation in Ireland, and compares data for Ireland with the rest of the EU.
It shows we also have lower rates of car ownership compared with our EU neighbours. There were 436 passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants in Ireland in 2015 while Luxembourg had the highest at 661 and Romania the lowest at 261.
And while the Irish population accounts for just under 1pc of the total EU population in 2016, it is among the fastest growing in percentage terms, with the third highest rate across Europe between 2006 and 2016.
The fertility rate remains high too, and in 2015 we had the second highest rate in the EU at 1.92, just behind France at 1.96 and well Helen Cahill above the EU average rate of 1.58. The lowest fertility rate was in Portugal at 1.31.
Over a third of all births were outside marriage in Ireland in 2015, which was the 10th lowest rate in the EU. France had the highest proportion of births outside marriage at 59.1pc, while Greece had the lowest at 8.8pc.
In the United Kingdom, nearly half of all births were outside marriage in 2015.
The divorce rate in Ireland continues to be the lowest in the EU at only 0.6 divorces per 1,000 population in 2015, while the highest rate was in Lithuania at 3.2.
And the report highlights that third-level education remains a priority for Irish people.
Nearly half (46.7pc) of the population aged 25-34 had completed third-level education in 2016, the fifth highest rate across
the EU. This compares with 55pc in Cyprus and Lithuania and only 25pc in Romania.
Irish students are also keen on the Stem subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – a key focus for Government. The proportion of graduates in Stem disciplines was 31.5 per 1,000 of the population aged 20-29 in Ireland, while the EU average was 19.1.
AND we live longer than the average. Life expectancies atbirthforboth menandwomenin Ireland are above the EU averages.
Life expectancy at birth in Ireland in 2015, as calculated by Eurostat (the European Statistical Agency), was 83.4 years for females, just above the EU average of 83.3 years.
Women live almost four years longer than men. The male life expectancy at birth in Ireland was 79.6 years, 1.7 years above the EU average.
A 65-year-old man in Ireland can now expect to live for a further 17.7 years while a 65-year-old woman can look forward to another 20.6 years.
Health outcomes are improving, too. Healthy life years at birth for females in Ireland was 67.9 years in 2015, the third highest rate in the EU and 4.6 years above the EU average.
Male healthy life years at birth in Ireland in 2015 was 66.6 years, the third highest rate in the EU and four years higher than the EU average. Irish males can expect to spend about 16pc of their life expectancy in poor health, the fourth lowest rate the EU.
This compares with males in Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Croatia, Portugal and Slovakia, who can anticipate spending about a quarter of their life expectancy in poor health.
Females in Ireland can expect to spend about 19pc of their life expectancy in poor health, the fourth lowest rate in the EU.
In Finland and Portugal, women are predicted to spend about a third of their life in poor health.
Employment rates dropped sharply from 71.7pc in 2007 to 59.8pc in 2012 before rising to 67.4pc in 2017.
The unemployment rate in Ireland rose from 5.2pc in 2007 to 15.9pc in 2012, before decreasing to 6.9pc in 2017.
When we look at the data on employment rates in the EU in 2016, we can see we are about average.
The employment rate in Ireland in 2016 at 66.4pc was just below the EU average of 66.6pc.
The highest employment rate in 2016 in the EU was in Sweden at 76.2pc, while the lowest rate was in Greece at 52pc.
But our unemployment rate is higher than the average. Ireland had the 10th highest rate of unemployment in the EU in 2016 at 9.1pc while the lowest rate was in the Czech Republic at 4pc and the highest was in Greece at 23.6pc.