EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers you a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
17.9 per cent – The share of the vote won by the National Front’s Marine le Pen in last Sunday’s first round of the French presidential election, taking a surprise third place. Socialist Francois Hollande topped the poll as expected, with 519,076 votes more than UMP’s Nicolas Sarkozy – making Sarko the first incumbent in decades not to top the poll.
43 per cent – The number of Irish voters who said they did not understand the question being put to them in last October’s referendum on Oireachtas Inquiries. By comparison, 71 per cent of voters said they understood the proposal on judges’ pay.
12 - The number of people who were diagnosed with mouth cancer during the second round of free screenings for Mouth Cancer Awareness Day.
€2,428 - The average cost of a car parking space rented by the Office of Public Works. Documents published this week showed that the body had spent over €10 million on just under 3,000 parking spaces for State employees in 2011.
16 years – The length of time for which Libya has had a ban on Irish beef – ever since the CJD scares of the mid-1990s. The country is expected to lift its embargo “shortly”.
4 – The number of Labour members who were entitled to vote in a convention to choose Colm Keaveney’s replacement on Galway County Council last year, according the mayor of Tuam, Mary Loftus. Loftus quit the party this week saying she was not considered for Keaveney’s seat despite her 34 years of Labour membership.
39 per cent – That’s how much an apartment in Dublin will cost now, compared to its peak price in early 2007. CSO stats this week showed prices in the capital had fallen by 61 per cent in 50 months.
0 – The number of living Irish artists with work now on display in the permanent collection of the National Library of Ireland. The only living artist with work on display, the legendary Louis le Brocquy, died this week aged 95.
2,144 – The population of the South Dublin town of Saggart as of last year’s Census. That’s compared to 868 in 2006, a growth of 147 per cent – making it Ireland’s fastest-growing town.
20.1 per cent – The amount by which the population of Laois grew in the same period. That’s makes the Lake County the fastest-growing one in Ireland.
2 - The number of council jurisdictions where the population actually fell in the five years between censuses. Cork and Limerick cities both saw their populations fall, but not by much – while the overall population of the city and suburban areas grew anyway.
5,101 per square kilometre - The population density of Kinsealy-Drinan, in the Fingal County Council jurisdiction, which has the highest population density in the country. Lusk and Swords complete a Fingal hat-trick in population density.
9 per cent – The proportion of the population of Leitrim (31,798) who live in urban areas. That’s the smallest population of any Irish county area. Outside the five city council areas, it’s South Dublin which has the biggest urban populace: only a tiny pinch of the population lives ‘rurally’.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say