The first official statistical comparison of both parts of Ireland has highlighted a surprising level of similarity, the North's Finance Minister has said. There were, also, however, some striking differences.
At the publication in Armagh of Ireland North and South, a Statistical Profile, Mr Mark Durkan said he had been struck by the similarities between Northern Ireland and the Republic, especially in the social and demographic areas.
The report, published jointly by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), covers population, health, industry and finance, education, agriculture, transport and tourism, and other subjects.
It indicates strong social similarities between both parts of Ireland. Both have experienced dramatic falls in marriage rates: by 1998 there were 4.5 marriages per 1,000 people in the Republic and 4.6 in the North.
In the Republic the proportion of babies born to mothers under 25 fell from 27 per cent to 20 per cent from 1980 to 1998. In the North the drop was even larger, from 37 per cent to 24 per cent.
Female participation in the labour market south of the Border rose from 40 per cent to 47 per cent from 1995 to 2000, while the Northern figure remained stable at 48 per cent throughout the period.
Both parts of the island have young populations. In 1999, just under 28 per cent of the Northern population was over 50; in the Republic the figure was around 25 per cent.
North and South, circulatory disease caused two-fifths of deaths, cancer a quarter.
Mr Durkan said the report also revealed some striking differences. The rate of suicide in the Republic was twice that of the North: in 1998, 13.6 per 100,000 population compared with 7.4 in the North.
The economic differences were also significant. In 1997 the GDP per capita of the Republic was 102 per cent of the EU average. The corresponding figure in the North was 82 per cent.
Even allowing for the exchange rate differential, house prices were notably higher south of the Border. In 1999, a new house cost an average £116,970 in the Republic and £75,000 sterling (IR£93,000) in the North.
At the launch Mr Seamus Brennan, the Government Chief Whip and Minister of State at the Office of the Taoiseach, welcomed the report as "absolutely brilliant". He said both Governments could learn from the figures.
"There are real differences there and by examining those differences we can figure out how to tackle them and if it is necessary to tackle them." One example of this was the "far more attractive" pupil-teacher ratio in the North, he said: 17 pupils to every teacher compared with 19.