ONCE A WEEK, TheJournal.ie brings you a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
Since we’re almost at the year’s end, here’s a bumper selection of figures looking back on the year that was.
£231 million: The amount of Irish punts the Central Bank says are still hanging around under mattresses or in old piggy banks, almost thirteen years after Ireland switched to the euro.
47.7 million: The approximate number of A4 pages used in this year’s Leaving and Junior Certificate exams.
39 million: The number of views on YouTube of the video of Meath priest Fr Ray Kelly singing his own version of Leonard Cohen’s Halleluia at a couple’s wedding.
€3.5 million: The amount of money that Ulster Bank was fined by the Central Bank for its IT problem which affected hundreds of thousands of customers.
3.4 million: The number of tourists who visited Ireland in the first six months of this year.
1.5 million: The number of pigs in Ireland, according to the Central Statistics Office. Just in case you were wondering.
250,000: The number of households in Ireland living on less than €15,000 per year, according to research.
108,000: The number of people in Ireland who are paid the minimum wage of €8.65 per hour.
100,000 +: The number of people who turned out for protests against water charges around the country on 1 November. Tens of thousands attended a second demonstration in Dublin on 10 December.
79,660: The number of homes needed in Ireland to meet the needs of the growing population, according to a government advisory body.
25,000: The number of body bags for badgers the Government needed as part of the cull of the animals to eradicate TB.
20,000: The approximate number of people who applied for jobs in An Garda Síochána for just 300 positions. It was the first time since 2009 that new gardaí had been recruited.
9,615: The official number of methadone users in Ireland.
8,000: The number of Irish people treated every year for alcohol abuse.
2,963: The number of miles between Times Square in New York and the nearest Supermacs, according to giant billboards which went up in NYC in October.
2,840: The number of kilometres of cycle routes which are planned for Dublin over the next decade.
€2,500: The amount that a judge ordered should be donated to charity after Italian businessman Roberto Binaschi wrote the words ‘Attenzione Ebola’ on a coffee cup during an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin in October.
849: The number of towns and villages which entered the Tidy Towns competition this year (Kilkenny was the overall winner).
265: The number of ambulances in Ireland.
83: The percentage of rail journeys in Ireland which take place in the Greater Dublin Area, according to the National Transport Authority’s annual rail census.
75: The percentages of deaths in Ireland which are caused by either heart or respiratory diseases, or cancer.
65.8: The percentage of women in the civil service, with the majority in the lower grades such as clerical or staff officer.
64: The percentage of Irish emigrants surveyed who said that the food they miss most from the old country is… Tayto crisps.
48: The percentage by which women who give birth in a private hospital are more likely to have a Caesarean delivery compared to women who give birth in a public hospital in Ireland.
44: The percentage of people in Ireland with private health insurance.
36: The percentage of Irish people who believe religion plays a negative role in society.
34: Where Dublin ranks on a list of the happiest cities in the world, apparently.
34.9: The average age of men getting married in Ireland – the highest it has ever been. The average age for brides is 32.8.
34: The percentage of Irish people who don’t do any exercise at all. The most common reason why not? We don’t have time.
33: The percentage of judge in Ireland who are women, according to new figures. The Circuit Court comes closest to gender parity with 48% of the judges female.
30: The number of tonnes of (formerly Superquinn) sausages sold in SuperValu shops every week, apparently.
25: The percentage of primary school students who are overweight or obese, according to a study by researchers at UCC.
23: The number of people who died after using cocaine in one year, according to the Health Research Board. The figure is down from a peak of 66 deaths in 2007.
16 hours 53 minutes: The total amount of time over five days that the jury deliberated for at the Anglo trial.
13: The number of days that would-be Senator John McNulty spent on the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art before resigning.
11.7: The percentage of Labour party TDs who ran for the position of deputy leader of the party earlier this year.
10.7: Ireland’s unemployment rate.
8.7: The percentage of the population of Ireland which had a ticket to see Garth Brooks play in Croke Park. That’s 400,000 people left disappointed by the whole fiasco.
5: The number of years that Arthur’s Day ran for before Guinness decided to cancel it this year.
4: The number of counties in Ireland where residents have more disposable income than the State average of €19,055 (Dublin, Kildare, Limerick and Cork, if you’re wondering).
3: The number of points by which Ireland’s women’s rugby team beat New Zealand at the World Cup – the first time the Black Ferns had lost in more than two decades.
2: The number of postmen who get attacked by dogs every week.
1: The percentage of trees in Ireland’s forests which were felled during the turbulent storms in February.
1: Michael Noonan’s ranking as a Minister for Finance out of all of Europe, according to the Financial Times. Noonan got the accolade for his ‘extraordinary progress’ since 2011.
1: Where U2′s Songs of Innocence ranked on Rolling Stone’s list of the best albums of the year.
1: The number of Twink’s dogs that were allegedly ‘dognapped’ before being found several days later. Phew.
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