Education: The gender gap in education is widening, according to the census report. The number of females in full-time education outnumbers males in all age groups from 15 to 24.
The gap is widest for 18-year-olds, where the number of females in full-time education is 15 per cent higher than males.
The report also highlights how third-level education remains largely the preserve of the middle and upper classes.
Over 70 per cent of all 20-year-olds are students across large areas of south Dublin. However, the situation is reversed in the inner city and some northside suburbs, where less than 35 per cent of this age group are in full-time education.
The CSO figures highlight a dramatic increase in the number of mature students aged 25 and over, up from 12,400 in 1996 to 23,700 in 2002.
The number aged 15 to 24 in full-time education remained unchanged at 51 per cent since the 1996 census. A small decline was recorded in the number aged 15 to 17 in full-time education; this is due to the boom in employment opportunities during this period.
In general, the figures underline the huge transformation achieved in education in this generation. Over two-thirds of people aged 70-plus were educated to primary level, but in 2002 "less than 10 per cent of persons aged 20 to 29 completed their education at primary level".
The census figures again highlight the direct link between education and employment. Broadly, the higher the level of educational attainment the less likely the risk of unemployment.
In all, over 626,000 in the Republic hold third-level qualifications. Those aged 25 to 34 account for one-third of all graduates.
The most popular branch of study was social sciences/business/law (17 per cent), followed by medicine/dentistry/nursing/ social services (12 per cent).
For male graduates, the most "prominent branch" of study was in the engineering/architecture area, while medicine and related health areas predominated among women.
In computers and information technology, the number of male graduates (24,000) outnumber the number of females (16,500) by a significant margin.
