THE CSO HAS released an overview of what its work revealed about Irish society in 2022, covering everything from baby names to the cost-of-living crisis.

Part one of Ireland 2022: The Year In Numbers focused on society and the environment.

Here’s a selection of some headline figures – you can find the full report here.

Cost-of-living crisis

People are still saving significantly more than pre-pandemic (down slightly to 19% in Q3 2022, but still higher than previous levels of 10%) even after restrictions have been lifted, but the bite of rising inflation and the increasing cost of living is seen elsewhere:

• The proportion of people living in enforced deprivation increased from 13.8% in 2021 to 17.1% in 2022
• The number of people unable to afford to keep their home adequately warm increased from 3.2% in 2021 to 7.4% in 2022
• Households with at least some difficulty in making ends meet increased from 42.0% in 2021 to 49.3% in 2022.

Almost every respondent to a survey conducted in November said they were making cutbacks.

Covid lifestyle impact

The lasting impact of advice to work from home is clear, with four in ten employees now working remotely, up from one in twelve pre-pandemic – and the vast majority (74%) say they have more time on their hands

More than half of the respondents to a survey in May said they were spending more time outdoors since the start of the pandemic, and it was the catalyst for 70% of them realising how important being out in the natural world was to their well-being. More than 40% of people aged 18 to 34 took up new activities.

Crime

The stats on criminal offences shows a significant rise (43%) in the number of fraud incidents in the 12 months to June 2022, while theft and related offences were also up (23%). The picture when it comes to homicides is a nuanced one: 

However, the number of Homicides fell by 38% between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022, falling from 64 such deaths to 40. This was mainly driven by a fall of 17 (-53%) in Dangerous Driving Leading to Death incidents over this period.

Environment 

The number of new electric cars is continuing to grow, with the number up 82% in the first 11 months of 2022 when compared with the same period in 2021, with a conventional hybrid being the most popular type (45%).

The most common (63%) reason to not purchase an electric car was the price.

Energy use by data centres was found to have increased by 32% between 2020 and 2021.

• Read the CSO’s report in full here

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