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Ireland is a country in northern Europe. It shares the island it is on with Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom.

Ireland is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea.

The land is mostly flat inland with rugged hills and low mountains in the east and sea cliffs on the west coast

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Ireland, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 53 00N
Longitude - 8 00W

The capital of Ireland is Dublin.

Ireland is a parliamentary republic with a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Ireland is the euro. Ireland is a member of the European Union, having joined in 1973.

English and Irish (gaelic) are the official languages.

Check the weather in Dublin now.

This is the time in Dublin now

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The Irish flag is three equal vertical stripes of green, white, and orange. Officially the flag colours have no meaning, but a common interpretation is that the green represents the Irish nationalist (Gaelic) tradition of Ireland; orange represents the Orange tradition (minority supporters of William of Orange); white symbolizes peace (or a lasting truce) between the green and the orange

Hear the National Anthem



These are the anthem words

The words ×

These are the words to the Irish National Anthem called The Soldier's Song. It was adopted in 1936. This is a translation of the words.

If anthem fails to play click here

Soldiers are we whose lives are pledged to Ireland;
Some have come from a land beyond the wave,
Sworn to be free,
No more our ancient sire land
Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
Tonight we man the bearna bhaoil
In Erin’s cause, come woe or weal,
‘Mid cannons’ roar and rifles peal,
We’ll chant a soldier’s song.

The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Ireland is 68,883 sq kms which is the 21st largest in Europe.

Ireland has lakes, rivers and canals which total 1,390 sq kms.

Ireland has a boundary with 1 country

• United Kingdom 443 kms

Ireland has a coastline of 1,448 kms which is the 15th longest in Europe.

The highest point in Ireland is Carrauntoohil at 1,041 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Ireland is 4.95 million people, making it the 25th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 2.48 million are females and 2.47 million are males.

A person from Ireland is called Irish.

To be a citizen of Ireland, one of your parents must be a citizen of Ireland. It is also sufficient to be born in Ireland. You have to live in Ireland for 4 years of the previous 8 before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Ireland, by population are:-

• Dublin 1,024,027 people
• Cork 190,384
• Dun Laoghaire 185,400
• Limerick 90,054
• Galway 70,686

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.



63.2% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Ireland is 14.5 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Ireland is 6.5 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 4.0 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 3.3 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 36.9 and for males is 35.7. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 29.9.

The elderly dependency ratio is 20.3. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 4.9. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Ireland spends 7.8% of its total income on health care.

There are 2.67 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 2.9 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

25.3% of the population are estimated as obese.

97.9% of the urban population and 97.8% of the rural population have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

89.1% of the urban population and 92.9% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Ireland releases 34.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 24th highest in Europe.

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Ireland spends 5.3% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 4 in Ireland. Primary education is for eight years until age 12 and secondary education must continue till 16 but can go on to 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week of September and finishes at the end of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas and Easter, and a one week break in the middle of each of the first two terms.

We have no figures for the number of people who are able to read and write by the age of 15.

17.2% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 14.6% are unemployed while with males 19.5% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in Ireland is 2.18 million.

They work in the following sectors.

• Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work
• Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers
• Services is everything else

8.0% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 16 paved airports in Ireland, which is the 27th highest number in Europe.


There are 3,237 kilometres of railways in Ireland, the 21st longest in Europe.


There are 96,036 kilometres of roads in Ireland, which means Ireland is in 14th place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 3 major national newspapers in Ireland.

There are 4.90 million mobile phone users.

39% of the people have a fixed landline.



3.92 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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