A survey published today found that house price increases have been greater in the Republic than the North, a higher proportion of people in the North have used an illegal drug, and that the proportion of babies born to older mothers has increased across Ireland.
The CSO today published the fourth edition of the North-South Statistical Profile, which draws together and compares official social and economic statistics for both parts of Ireland and monitors change over time. Previous editions were published in 2001, 2003 and 2004.
Average house prices in the Republic more than trebled between 1996 and 2006, according to the report, while prices in the North more than doubled during the same period.
Average prices in the Republic rose from approximately €87,000 in 1996 to over €300,000 in 2006 while Northern Ireland house prices increased from £65,000 to £154,000 (€195,000) over the same period.
Average household size has been falling for a number of years, the survey found, with a corresponding growth in the proportion of single-person and two-person households in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. This growth is forecast to continue in both areas.
In both jurisdictions, almost three-quarters of households owned their home outright or through a mortgage.
In a 2006/2007 survey, a higher percentage of those aged 15 to 64 in the North reported taking an illegal drug, 28 per cent, compared to 24 per cent in the Republic.
Measuring lifetime use, cannabis was the most common illegal drug taken by men (27 per cent) and women (16.6 per cent) in the Republic. In the North the figure for the drug was 30.1 per cent for men and 19.3 per cent for women.
Sedatives and tranquilisers were the second-most common drug taken by people in the Republic, while in the North anti-depressants were the most common drug taken by women.
The past 20 years have seen the proportion of babies born to older mothers rise in the North and the Republic. Around 60 per cent of all births in the latter were to mothers aged 30 and over compared with 50 per cent in Northern Ireland.
In the Republic of Ireland in 2006, three in every five births were to mothers aged 30 and over, compared to three every five births to mothers aged under 30 in 1980. There were more births to mothers aged 40 and older than births to teenage mothers in 2005 and 2006.
In Northern Ireland, the past three decades have seen the number of births among mothers aged between 20 and 29 decline. In 2006, 50 per cent of mothers were aged 30 and over compared to around 30 per cent in 1976.
Death rates per 1,000 population were lower in the Republic in 2006 at 6.5 compared with 8.3 in North, although the CSO notes these figures reflect the younger population in the former.
Between 2004 and 2006, circulatory diseases were the primary cause of death in both parts of Ireland. Nonetheless, in that period, the Republic generally reported a decrease in the standardised death rates attributed to circulatory diseases, which fell from 241 to 207 per 100,000, the CSO reported.
The North also saw its death rate due to circulatory diseases drop from 232 to 205, per 100,000.
