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GeographyLocation: Western Europe, occupying five-sixths of the island of Ireland in the North Atlantic Ocean, west of Great Britain
Area: Land boundaries: total 360 km, UK 360 km Coastline: 1,448 km
PeoplePopulation: 3,550,448 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
Population growth rate: 0.33% (1995 est.) Birth rate: 14.04 births/1,000 population Death rate: 8.48 deaths/1,000 population Net migration rate: -2.22 migrant(s)/1,000 population Infant mortality rate: 7.2 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth:
Total fertility rate: 1.95 children born/woman Ethnic divisions: Celtic, English Religions: Roman Catholic 93%, Anglican 3%, none 1%, unknown 2%, other 1% (1981) Languages: Irish (Gaelic), spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard, English is the language generally used
Literacy:
age 15 and over can read and write (1981 est.)
Government
Names:
Type: republic Capital: Dublin Independence: 6 December 1921 (from UK) Constitution: 29 December 1937; adopted 1 July 1937 by plebescite
EconomyNational product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $49.8 billion National product real growth rate: 5.5% National product per capita: $14,060 Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.7% Unemployment rate: 16%
Electricity:
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| More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined. |