ent; mild
winters, cool summers; consistently humid; overcast about half the
time

Terrain: mostly level to rolling interior plain surrounded by rugged
hills and low mountains; sea cliffs on west coast

Elevation extremes:
lowest point : Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Carrauntoohill 1,041 m

Natural resources: zinc, lead, natural gas, petroleum, barite, copper,
gypsum, limestone, dolomite, peat, silver

Land use:
arable land: 13%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 68%
forests and woodland : 5%
other: 14% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Natural hazards: NA

Environment - current issues: water pollution, especially of lakes,
from agricultural runoff

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of
the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Marine Life Conservation, Tropical Timber 94

Geography - note: strategic location on major air and sea routes
between North America and northern Europe; over 40% of the population
resides within 60 miles of Dublin

@Ireland:People

Population: 3,606,952 (July 1997 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 23% (male 415,747; female 393,181)
15-64 years: 66% (male 1,203,792; female 1,185,935)
65 years and over: 11% (male 173,566; female 234,731) (July 1997 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.33% (1997 est.)

Birth rate: 13.43 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Death rate: 8.6 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.49 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (1997 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 6.1 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 75.98 years
male: 73.24 years
female: 78.89 years (1997 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.83 children born/woman (1997 est.)

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

Ethnic groups: Celtic, English

Religions: Roman Catholic 93%, Anglican 3%, none 1%, unknown 2%, other
1% (1981)

Languages: Irish (Gaelic), spoken main