As a nation, we are separating more rubbish but less from our partners

We’re getting older and greener, producing more babies and scientists, and still shunning the divorce courts — Ireland today is a country of change and contradictions according to the Central Statistics Office.

A portrait compiled from the latest data shows lop-sized population trends with the proportion of over-65s growing by 3% and the 45-64 age group by 2% in the decade between 2007 and 2017.

In the same period, the proportion of 15- to 44 year-olds fell by 6% but the proportion of 0- to 14-year-olds grew by 1%, partly due to Ireland having the second highest fertility rate in Europe.