Ireland 
Facts
Population:
3,840,838 (July 2001 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
21.57% (male 425,328; female 403,204)
15-64 years:
67.08% (male 1,290,002; female 1,286,312)
65 years and over:
11.35% (male 188,868; female 247,124) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate:
1.12% (2001 est.)
Birth rate:
14.57 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate:
8.07 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate:
4.69 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth:
1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
1 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
0.76 male(s)/female
total population:
0.98 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
5.53 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
76.99 years
male:
74.23 years
female:
79.93 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate:
1.9 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
0.1% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
2,200 (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
less than 100 (1999 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Irishman(men), Irishwoman(women), Irish (collective plural)
adjective:
Irish
Ethnic groups:
Celtic, English
Religions:
Roman Catholic 91.6%, Church of Ireland 2.5%, other 5.9% (1998)
Languages:
English is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard
Literacy:
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population:
98% (1981 est.)
male:
NA%
female:
NA%
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $81.9 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
9.9% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $21,600 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture:
4%
industry:
38%
services:
58% (1999)
Population below poverty line:
10% (1997 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%:
2%
highest 10%:
27.3% (1997)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5.6% (2000)
Labor force:
1.82 million (2000 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
services 64%, industry 28%, agriculture 8% (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate:
4.1% (2000)
Budget:
revenues:
$25.7 billion
expenditures:
$19.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $2 billion (2000)
Industries:
food products, brewing, textiles, clothing; chemicals, pharmaceuticals, machinery, transportation equipment, glass and crystal; software
Industrial production growth rate:
14% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production:
19.542 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel:
94.42%
hydro:
4.23%
nuclear:
0%
other:
1.35% (1999)
Electricity - consumption:
18.414 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports:
50 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports:
290 million kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products:
turnips, barley, potatoes, sugar beets, wheat; beef, dairy products
Exports:
$73.5 billion (f.o.b., 2000)
Exports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, computers, chemicals, pharmaceuticals; live animals, animal products
Exports - partners:
EU 59% (UK 19%, Germany 9%, France 7%), US 20% (2000)
Imports:
$45.7 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities:
data processing equipment, other machinery and equipment, chemicals; petroleum and petroleum products, textiles, clothing
Imports - partners:
EU 54% (UK 29%, Germany 6%, France 5%), US 18%, Japan 5%, Singapore 4% (2000)
Debt - external:
$11 billion (1998)
Economic aid - donor:
ODA, $245 million (2000)
Currency:
Irish pound (IEP); euro (EUR)
note:
on 1 January 1999, the EU introduced the euro as a common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in Ireland at a fixed rate of 0.787564 Irish pounds per euro and will replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002
Currency code:
IEP; EUR
Exchange rates:
Irish pounds per US dollar - 1.0658 (January 2001), 1.0823 (2000), 0.9374 (1999), 0.7014 (1998), 0.6588 (1997), 0.6248 (1996)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
Statistics: CIA World Factbook.
Press
1 2 3 
Displaying 1 to 7 of 17 items.
(Weekly Sinn Fein party organ), Dublin
http://www.irlnet.com/aprn/
(Business-oriented weekly), Dublin
http://www.businessandfinance.ie
(finance and technology), Dublin
http://www.electricnews.net
Evening Herald
Dublin
(Independent Irish language weekly), Galway
http://www.foinse.ie
(Liberal bimonthly), Dublin
http://www.hotpress.com
(Centrist), Dublin
http://www.irelandonsunday.ie
Ireland in the News
1 2 3 4
Displaying 1 to 4 of 15 items.
Nicholas Birch, reporting from Tehran for The Irish Times, assesses the health of the reform movement within Iran.
Ireland's Sunday Business Post reviews Israeli journalist and novelist David Grossman's new book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Death as a Way of Life: Dispatches from Jerusalem
World Press Review's Rachel S. Taylor profiles Tom O'Higgins, an Irish polymath who served as a minister for health and a supreme court justice, and twice ran for the presidency of Ireland.
The Independent's Judith Palmer speaks with Irish writer Joe O'Connor about The Star of the Sea, his new novel set during the Irish Famime.
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