Ireland the fifth most expensive EU state as cost of living falls

IRELAND is the fifth most expensive place to live in the EU, despite the fall in the cost of living in recent years.

According to figures from the CSO for last year, only Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden are more expensive places to live within the EU than Ireland, with Irish prices 18% above the EU average.

The report, Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2010, said this was a considerable improvement on the 2009 figure, when Irish prices were 26% above the EU average and second only to Denmark.

It also found that with the economy experiencing negative growth for the third year in a row, government debt last year increased to over 96% of GDP, having been at 25% of GDP in 2007.

Other major findings contained in the report include:

nEmployment and unemployment: While the productivity of the workforce remained above the EU average in 2010, our unemployment rate was the sixth highest in the EU.

The employment rate (for those aged 15-64) in Ireland rose from 65.7% in 2001 to 69.2% in 2007, but fell to 58.9% by 2011

nEconomy: The GDP growth rate was -0.4% in 2010. The public balance deficit was 32.4% of GDP, the largest by far of any EU member state while state debt increased substantially to 96.2% of GDP in 2010, the fourth highest debt/GDP ratio in the EU, having been 25% only three years previously.

Nonetheless, in 2010 Ireland had the joint third highest GDP per capita in the EU, at 25% above the union’s average.

* Social cohesion: In 2009, 5.5% of the population was in consistent poverty. This was an increase from 2008, when 4.2% of the population was living in consistent poverty.

Voter turnout at Dáil elections gradually declined from over 76% in the 1970s to less than 63% in 2002 before increasing to nearly 70% in February 2011

* Education: Average class sizes at primary level in Ireland in 2008/2009 were the second highest in the EU.

Irish 15-year-olds had the joint 17th highest mathematical literacy among participating EU countries in 2009 and below the OECD average, while on reading literacy Ireland was eighth highest and ranked slightly above the OECD average.

* Health: Current public expenditure on healthcare averaged €3,234 per person in 2009, an increase of over half on the 2000 level.

Life expectancy at birth in Ireland is 76.8 years for males and 81.6 years for females — close to the EU average

* Population: Ireland had the highest percentage increase in population between 2000 and 2010 in the EU.

Ireland had the highest proportion of young people (0-14) in the EU, and the lowest proportion of old people(65 and over). The divorce rate was the lowest rate in the EU.

* Housing: The number of dwelling units built increased sharply to peak at almost 90,000 in 2006 before collapsing to 14,600 in 2010, the level it was in 1970. The average value of a new housing loan rose from €102,300 in 2000 to €266,400 in 2007 before dropping to €231,600 in 2009.

* Crime: The number of kidnapping and related offences nearly doubled between 2005 and 2009 while the number of controlled drug offences increased by nearly two thirds.

The number of weapons and explosives offences increased by more than half. However, the number of murders/manslaughters has decreased from its peak of 84 in 2007 to 60 in 2009.