Ireland in 2019 – More rain, more women and fewer potatoes

It shows Ireland’s population stood at 4,921,500 last year. Females (2,483,500) outnumbered males (2,438,000) by 45,500.

The statistical snapshot highlights gender inequality particularly in business.

It finds that just one in nine CEO’s of large businesses are women. When it comes to company chairpersons, 93% were male and 7% female.

Of those that experienced discrimination in the workplace, 33% cited gender, which was the most common ground identified.

On earnings, the highest median wages were in Dublin. Males earned €717.67 a week compared to females who earned €573.

The top three destinations for exports from Ireland accounted for 38.7% of all exports. They were the US (€73.1bn), the UK (€51.3bn) and Germany (€28.8bn).

There were 664 same-sex marriages in 2018: 372 male unions and 292 female unions.

The top three surnames for babies were Murphy, Kelly and Ryan. The most popular first names are still Jack and Emily.

In fact, Jack has been one of the top three names for boys since 1998. Emily has been the top girls’ name since 2011.

The food we farm and eat is changing. In 1859, 374,000 hectares were grown with potatoes. In 2018, that had shrunk to 8,000 hectares.

But cattle numbers have been growing. In 1848, there were 2.1m cattle. In 2018, there were 7.35m.

It’s wetter.

In 1971, there was an average 912 millimetres of rain. In 2018, there was 1,224 millimetres.

But with all that rain, there’s usually also wind and with that we now generate 30.1% of our electricity.

Finally, there were 136,316 driving tests in 2018. There was a pass rate of 52.5%.

But 15,523 people failed to show up for their appointment, while 73,194 full licences were held by drivers over the age of 80.