The CSO’s statistical yearbook, published yesterday, reveals a country in a state of flux.
The yearbook, a statistical snapshot of 2012, shows that Live Register figures fell last year but unemployment grew; earnings were up but an increasing number of people lived in deprivation; and the number of gardaí fell but so did recorded crime in most categories.
The yearbook provides statistical data in a number of areas including population, the labour force, education, crime, the economy, agriculture, industry and housing.
The average number of people on the Live Register last year (including part-time workers and seasonal and casual workers claiming social welfare payments) fell from 444,900 in 2011 to 436,300.
However, unemployment increased over the same period: 323,000 people were recorded as being unemployed last year compared with 317,400 in 2011. In percentage terms, the overall unemployment rate increased from 14.6 per cent in 2011 to 15 per cent last year.
The number of people in employment decreased in the same period from 1.861 million in 2011 to 1.836 million in 2012.
Deprivation index
Annual average earnings rose to €36,079 last year, an increase of €174 on the 2011 figure. However, the last available deprivation index figures from 2011 show that 25 per cent of people were experiencing two or more types of enforced deprivation, compared with 23 per cent in 2010.
The number of marriages rose by 6.9 per cent to 21,245 in 2012 while the number of civil partnerships fell by almost a quarter from 536 recorded in 2011, the year in which they were introduced, to 408 last year.
The number of divorces granted by the Circuit Court and the High Court increased for the first time since 2007, with 73 more recorded last year than a year earlier, bringing the total to 2,892.
There were 72,225 births registered in 2012 with slightly more boys born than girls (51.5 per cent boys compared with 48.5 per cent girls). This marked a decrease of 2,425 on the number of births registered in 2011.
Births
More than a third of births were registered outside marriage, while eight births were registered as being within a civil partnership in 2012.
The number of planning permissions granted for new dwellings fell by almost a quarter (23.2 per cent) between 2011 and 2012 to 3,643.
In 2012, there were 13,424 gardaí, a drop of 3.4 per cent on the 2011 figure.
Recorded crime fell in most categories in the same period; however, burglary and related offences rose slightly from 27,695 such crimes in 2011 to 27,774 last year.
Fraud and related offences also rose, from 5,370 offences recorded in 2011 to 5,544 recorded last year.
Inflation
The annual average rate of inflation stood at 1.7 per cent last year, down from 2.6 per cent in 2011.
Exports increased by 1 per cent to €92.009 million in 2012 and imports increased by 1.5 per cent to €49.024 million resulting in a trade surplus of €42.985 million.