The Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2008 was  published Thursday by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The Yearbook presents a comprehensive picture of Ireland today. It provides detailed information, tables and graphs across a wide range of topics. These include the population, labour force, education, crime, the economy, agriculture, industry,
services, prices, housing, knowledge economy and the environment.

People

• Irish society is becoming more diverse. There were 188 countries represented in the non-Irish national population. However 82% of these came from only 10 countries: UK, Poland, Lithuania, Nigeria, Latvia, US, China, Germany, Philippines and France.
• The number of divorced persons increased from 35,000 to 59,500 between 2002 and 2006, a rise of 70%.
• The most popular babies' names in 2007 were Jack and Sarah.

Work

• From 1985 to 2007 the number of persons in employment increased from 1.1 million to 2.1 million.
• In 2007 employment in the construction industry accounted for 13% of total employment.
• In 2007 there were only 6,038 days lost due to 6 industrial disputes.

Education

• At age 19, 66% of females and 48% of males were in full-time education in 2006/2007.
• In 2007 there were 29,534 primary school teachers in the state, 84% of whom were female.
• In 2006/2007 there were 26,317 full-time equivalent teachers in secondary schools.

Crime

• Homicide offences rose by almost two-thirds between 2003 and 2007.
• Almost 40% of female victims of rape/sexual assault in 2007 were in the 16-25 age group.
• In 2007 knives or sharp instruments were involved in over a third of all robberies/aggravated burglaries.
   

Economy

• Lending by credit institutions to the personal (private households) sector increased to over €148bn in 2007 from €134bn in 2006, but the pace of growth slowed compared to previous years.
• A deficit of €10.3 billion was recorded in the current account of the balance of the payments in 2007. The average deficit over the last five year was €4.6 billion.
• The General Government Balance was a surplus of €554m in 2007 compared with a surplus of €5,213m in 2006.

Tourism/Transport

• Driving tests conducted in 2006 totalled 154,741, with an overall pass rate of 52%.
• Highest number of new private cars licensed for the first time in 2007, classified by make, was Toyota (27,030), Volkswagen (21,087) and Ford (20,027).
• In 2007 expenditure by residents from other European countries exceeded expenditure by residents of Great Britain for the first time.

Housing

• Between 2000 and 2007, public capital expenditure on housing increased by 130%.
• The number of dwellings completed increased by 57% between 2000 and 2007.
• The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels sector experienced the highest rate of price increase in 2007 at 20.4%.

Knowledge Economy

• The ICT sector employed over 82,700 persons in 2005.
• In total, 57% of Irish households had access to the internet in the first quarter of 2007. Almost 31% of all households had a broadband connection.
• Nearly two thirds of businesses with 10 or more employees had a website or homepage in 2007.