EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
31,449 – Facebook’s population is 31,449 times bigger than the population of Leitrim. Facebook this week passed one billion active monthly users. To put that into context: one billion people could fill Croke Park 12,160 times.
199 – The number of countries whose citizens are resident in Ireland (not including the Irish themselves), according to CSO figures this week.
One in five – The proportion of insurance claims in Ireland which may be fraudulent. The Irish Brokers Association says if UK trends were applied to Ireland it’s possible that a fifth of insurance claims are people just chancing their arms.
79 per cent - The proportion of Ireland’s transgender population who have considered suicide, according to an intensive new survey of Ireland’s trans population. 40 per cent of the population – an estimated 3,000 people – had actually attempted taking their own lives.
67 per cent – The proportion of a CNN viewers’ panel who thought Mitt Romney won the first presidential debate against Barack Obama on Wednesday night. That’s the highest score of any candidate in any debate since 1984.
€85 million – The amount of the Department of Jobs’ budget that was due to be spent in the first nine months of the year… and wasn’t. Of the €499 million for the first nine months, it only spent about €414 million. The Department has defended its spending record, despite the recent record unemployment of 14.8 per cent.
2 – The number of couples in civil partnerships who live in Co Monaghan. That’s the lowest of any county in the country. By comparison, there are 60 same-sex partnered couples in Dublin 8 alone.
€750,000 – The approximate amount that UCD has paid to bail out its college bar, by agreeing to cover arrears wages and redundancy payments for staff who were laid off earlier this summer.
50 stone – The weight of some of the pigs that are thought to have eaten Oregon farmer Terry Garner. A family member found Garner’s dentures and pieces of his body in the pig enclosure several hours after he was last seen last week, but most of his remains had been consumed.
€7,000 – The amount that the Dublin Airport Authority spent painting a fire engine – which had to be undone just months later. The engine was painted a particular shade of green to carry DAA branding – but visibility issued resulted in the engine being painted red again only six months afterward.
€91.1 million – The amount spent by Dublin’s four local authorities so far on an incinerator which is years late and on which construction has not yet begun. The Poolbeg plant is now being held up because operators Covanta are having trouble getting the money together.
€764,101.84 – The amount paid in travel and representation allowances to 224 TDs and Senators in August. That’s August, in which there were no Dáil, Seanad or committee meetings. Meanwhile, each member is recorded as having shown up to Leinster House an average of 2.42 times.
26 – The number of members of the Kilkenny and Galway hurling teams who have been nominated for All-Star awards. Unusually, however, it’s the defeated finalists who have more nominees: there are 14 Galwegians on the list, and only 12 Cats.
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