Ireland/People

The Irish people are mainly of Celtic origin, with the country's only significant sized minority having descended from the Anglo-Normans. English is the common language, but Irish (Gaelic) also is an official language and is taught in the schools.

A national literature in Irish is reemerging. Anglo-Irish writers, including Swift, Sheridan, Goldsmith, Burke, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, and Samuel Beckett, have made a major contribution to world literature over the past 300 years.

Population: 3,797,257 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 21.85% (male 425,795; female 403,777)
15-64 years: 66.83% (male 1,271,367; female 1,266,150)
65 years and over: 11.33% (male 185,913; female 244,255) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.16% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 14.51 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 8.14 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 5.27 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 5.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 76.81 years
male: 74.06 years
female: 79.74 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.91 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Irishman(men), Irishwoman(women), Irish (collective plural)
adjective: Irish

Ethnic groups: Celtic, English

Religions: Roman Catholic 91.6%, [Church of Ireland]? 2.5%, other 5.9% (1998)

Languages: English is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98% (1981 est.)
male: NA%
female: NA%