TheCity

Tag: Stats

  • How do Irish citizens compare to other Europeans?

    How do Irish citizens compare to other Europeans?

    Just under half of Irish men between the ages of 25 and 29 years have attained third level education, while 57.3 percent of Irish women have achieved the same level of education.

    According to Eurostat, the 49.6 percent average for men is over double Italy’s 21 percent rate for the same demographic. Their free tool is available to all EU citizens who want to compare themselves to their European counterparts. The European average of men this age who get a third level education is 32.8 percent.

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    Ninety percent of European men this age use the internet every day. Finland leads the way, with 100 percent of their young men using the web daily. Ireland is close behind with 92 percent, while Romania has the lowest engagement of this demographic, with 72 percent. Overall, 86 percent of Irish women meanwhile use the Internet every day.

    Social media is the main reason young Europeans use the internet with 79 percent of young Europeans using social networks.

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    The average European lifespan is currently 78.1 years. Irish males have an expected lifespan of 79.3. Italy has the longest expected male lifespan of 80.7, while Latvia has the shortest expected lifespan for males with 69.1 years. Irish women’s expected lifespan is longer than Irish men by 4.2 years (83.5 years).

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    Ireland’s population average of people who do not own their own residences is above the EU average by 1.3 percent. According to Eurostat, the EU average of people who do not own their own residence is 30.1 percent while 31.4 percent of Irish people own their own dwelling. This is lower than Germany with its 47.5 percent rate but considerably higher than Romania where it is just 3.8 percent.

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    Finally, yesterday “The Climate Change Performance Index 2019,” results were published and Ireland was given the lowest score of any European country. Despite this, Eurostat calculates Irish citizens as having the lowest rate in the EU for “reporting pollution, grime or other environmental problems in their neighbourhood.”  

    On average 14.2 percent of EU citizens have reported environmental issues in their neighbourhood. Malta has the highest rate with 37.7 percent.

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  • Public Safety on Irish Rail – Part Two

    Public Safety on Irish Rail – Part Two

    In the second of a two-part series, The City’s Keith Horan looks at incidents of anti-social behaviour on Intercity Irish Rail services, using figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

    2018 looks set to be the worst year since 2015 for incidents of anti-social behaviour on Intercity Irish Rail services, with 280 incidents reported by October, more than the final year figure for any of the previous three years. Already this year, there have been 100 more incidents reported than in the whole of 2016. And overall, a total of 964 incidents of anti-social behaviour were reported on Intercity Irish Rail services since 2015.

    The most common complaint of anti-social behaviour made by Intercity Irish Rail customers is to do with disruptive passengers, with a total of 628 complaints – a whopping 65% of all total reports made. Like the rising total yearly trend, incidents involving disruptive passengers have been on the up since 2016 when 120 reports were recorded, to 153 in 2017, escalating to 186 by October of this year.

    According to the figures obtained for disruptive passengers on InterCity services, you are most likely to run into problems on the Galway line, which holds the title for most reports since 2015 with 105. At the other end of the scale, you are least likely to run into a disruptive passenger on the Kildare line, with only 17 reported incidents over four years. The total figure for disruptive passengers on the Kildare line since 2015 is lower than every individual yearly figure of similar reports on the Cork, Galway and Sligo lines.

    The next most common complaint around anti-social behaviour centres on reports of intimidation. Since 2015, there have been 164 reported incidents of intimidation, although this figure is skewed somewhat by a totally disproportionate 31 incidents in Longford in 2017, more than treble the yearly complaints of intimidation on every other line.

    Unsurprisingly, Longford has the highest number of reports of intimidation since 2015, with 58 made – Dundalk with 20 has seen the second highest number of reported incidents of intimidation, followed by Cork and Sligo with 16 each. Compared to Longford, if you want a care-free train journey free of intimidation, the Rosslare Europort service is ideal, with only two incidents of intimidation being reported on the line in the last four years.

    Acts of vandalism are the third most reported incident of anti-social behaviour on Intercity services, with a total of 65 reported since 2015. However, vandalism seems to be a receding problem, with reported incidents since 2016 all lower than a high of 26 in 2015.

    Longford again takes the unwanted position of number one for reports of vandalism on InterCity services, with a total of 21 incidents since 2015. Like with incidents of intimidation, Longford has a disproportionate figure in incidents of vandalism – the 11 reported in 2015 being more than double the figure reported in any year on any other line. Dundalk had the second most reports of vandalism with 13, while at the other end of the scale, the Belfast and Westport services have seen no reported incidents of vandalism being made from 2015 to October of this year.

    Incidents of theft aboard Intercity services in 2018 look set to be the highest since 2015, with more than double the amount of theft recorded in 2017. There have been 16 reports of theft made by October of this year, compared to a total of six last year. The Longford and Cork services share the position of number one in terms of reports of theft with ten each, while your bags and belongings should be perfectly safe on the Tralee and Belfast lines, with both without a report of theft in that time.

    Longford also tops the table for reported assaults on Intercity Rail services, with eight such incidents reported since 2015, closely followed by Dundalk with seven. Again, 2018 looks set to be a bad year for safety on Intercity services, with the eight reports of assault by October of this year equalling the same number for the whole of 2015. The Westport service is closest to Longford and Dundalk, with a total of three reported assaults, while both the Galway and Sligo services have yet to see an incident of assault being reported.

    Speaking to The City NRBU General Secretary Dermot O’Leary said that “the situation of anti-social behaviour on Irish Rail services is an escalating problem, with incidents rising year on year.” Mr O’Leary also said that NRBU members have been both physically and verbally assaulted on rail services, and that while issues around anti-social behaviour are a wider societal problem, he appealed to Minister for Transport Shane Ross and Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to intervene and deal with the problem on Irish Rail services across the country.

  • Average age of Irish brides and grooms up almost ten years over last three decades

    Average age of Irish brides and grooms up almost ten years over last three decades

    The average age of Irish brides and grooms in opposite sex marriages is the highest recorded to date, continuing a trend of people deciding to marry later in life.  The average age of the groom has increased by 8.1 years since 1987 and the average age of the bride has increased by 9.3 years, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

    Average age of bridegroom 1987-2017
    Source // CSO

    In the last five years, the average age of the groom has risen by 1.4 years and the average age of the bride has risen by 1.5 years, according to the CSO.

    Average age of bridegroom 2012-2017
    Source // CSO

    The CSO figures show the average age for same sex marriages decreased from 2016 to 2017.  In 2016, the average age of males in same sex marriages was 40.5 compared to 40.3 in 2017. The average age of females in same sex marriages in 2016 was 41.0 and dropped to 40.5 in 2017.

    The marriage rate in Ireland is down 0.2 per 1,000 population since 2016.  There were 605 less marriages in 2017 than in 2016. There were 759 same sex marriages in 2017 and 21,262 opposite sex marriages.  In 2017, Just over a half of all opposite sex marriages were Roman Catholic ceremonies (52.8 percent) and July and August were the most popular months to wed.

    Over the last 30 years, the average age for first time mothers has increased by 4.8 years, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).  In 1987, the average age of first time mothers was 26.2, compared with 31.0 in 2017.

    Average age of first time mothers from 1987-2017
    Source // CSO

    The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) looked at reproductive trends in 200 countries for a report published last month.  It found that Ireland has the fourth highest average age of childbearing in Europe, after Spain, Switzerland, Italy, and Luxembourg. Outside Europe, Ireland’s average age for childbearing is beaten only by Libya, Korea, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, and Hong Kong.

     

  • Lebron James enjoying unprecedented Season 15

    Lebron James enjoying unprecedented Season 15

    Lebron James has done the seemingly impossible.  No, that’s not make it out of the streets of Akron, Ohio, raised only by a single mother to become arguably the second greatest basketball player of all time … instead, he has managed to get better in year fifteen of his career.

    Better might be an overstatement, but he clearly is showing off an improved shooting stroke this year, coupled with a zen mastery of basketball knowledge, while only slightly losing some of his otherworldly athleticism, which has seen him at least return to MVP form (and possibly lead the MVP race).

    However, just to show how rare what Lebron James is doing I’m going to compare him to the greatest to ever play the game at year fifteen in their respective careers.  The numbers speak for themselves and Lebron is truly showcasing the kind of unique athletic specimen he truly is.

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    Points Per Game (PPG) is often a stat people look to in order to see the dominance a player has over a game.  Sometimes a misperceived stat as it is over glorified, it is still the main aim of the game, put the ball through the hoop.  Lebron is miles ahead of his Hall of Fame counter-parts, almost 3 points ahead of his nearest rival as seen in the graph above.  Legendary scoring machine and widely considered the best basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan, only averaged a 20 PPG for a lowly Washington Wizards team that didn’t even make the playoffs.  Albeit, Jordan was 39 years old at the time, while Lebron only turns 33 at the end of December (although Lebron has played more games than Jordan).

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    Not only is he scoring more than all of these other great players at this stage of their career, he is also shooting it at a better rate than any of them.  The graph above shows the players True Shooting Percentage (TS%), which according to Basketball-Reference.com, is a “measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account 2-point field goals, 3-point field goals and free throws”.  Again, James leads this category by a healthy margin with a TS% of 65.7 percent, which trumps Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s percentage of 60.8 percent.  He’s a full five percent better than a 7”2 giant, who had the most unstoppable shot of all time and also got most of his points within five feet of the basket.

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    While Lebron is a scoring machine, he is better known for being able to do everything on the basketball court, he can dominate a game with more than just his scoring.  James is known as a gifted passer, often compared to the great Magic Johnson for his court vision.  The chart above shows that only assist king, Steve Nash (11.4), bests him in this category.  Not even all time great point guard John Stockton could muster up more assists than ‘The Chosen One’.  Nash of course had the advantage of playing full time point guard with his only real job to set up team mates, whereas Lebron is averaging 8.3 assists while also averaging 8.3 rebounds.  Lebron isn’t particularly close to the top of the rebounding pile, however, as shown in the graph below, he is above the mean.  He is bested only by some of the best big man rebounders to ever play the game.

    Lebron also stuffs the stat sheet on the defensive end.  Combining steals and blocks Lebron sits in 3rd with 2.4 per game.  One of the best defensive players ever, Hakeem Olajuwon, obliterates the competition with 4.1 per game.  However, Lebron James shows his versatility on the basketball court by being near the top of all of these categories.

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    Lebron James not only dominates traditional statistics, he’s an advanced stats mercenary.  Lebron by any metric is great, hence being considered one of the best players ever, but when compared to all of these great players, it’s not even a contest.  Player efficiency rating (PER), is widely regarded as a stat that can truly quantify how valuable a basketball player is on the court.  According to basketball-reference.com, PER,  ‘The Player Efficiency Rating (PER), is a per-minute rating developed by ESPN.com columnist John Hollinger.

    In Hollinger’s words, “The PER sums up all a player’s positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player’s performance while adjusting for pace.”  ‘The King’s PER in year 15 is just astounding, it is a full four points better than his closest rival Karl Malone, who in all honesty is the only one who came close.  Karl Malone, revered for how well he kept his body during his career, was the pinnacle of fitness later in his career.  That James has easily outperformed him is a testament to the work that Lebron has put into keeping his body in phenomenal condition even at this late stage of his career.  The only way to compare his PER in this season is to compare it to the all-time single season PER.  Wilt Chamberlain holds the record of 31.82 in his fourth season in the league while he was 26 years old, and averaged a mere 44.8 PPG and 24.3 RPG.  Lebron, at nearly 33 years old in his 15th season, would have the 9th highest PER ever if the season ended today.

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    Win Shares per 48 minutes (WS/48), is a stat which directly correlates with the player’s direct impact on his team winning a game.  Again, Lebron shows he is not just a superior player but absolutely vital for his team to succeed even in the regular season.  The graph above shows that Karl Malone is Lebron’s only true challenger when it comes to comparing players in year fifteen in their respective careers.  However, this is one time ‘The Mailman’ can’t deliver as ‘The King’ rules over all when it comes to players a decade and a half into their respective careers.  The graph below is simply an amalgamation of all the stats mentioned throughout this article to show his utter dominance in every aspect of the game.

    So, what does any of this even mean?  We already knew Lebron is one of the best ever to play the game and his longevity has always been a big factor in that.  It seems though that even comparing him to past greats isn’t fair.  So who better to compare Lebron to other than, well, Lebron James!  James’ tenth year in the league, when he won his second NBA championship and fourth MVP trophy is widely regarded as the greatest Lebron James season, statistically anyways.  This was when Lebron was in the prime of his career at 28 years old and was playing for a powerhouse Miami Heat squad.

    James slid to the power forward position and Coach Eric Spoelstra was using James masterfully to get him easy chances around the basket.  This was pinnacle Lebron, the apex predator, the cerebral assassin, the final evolution.  However, it seems Lebron still had more growing to do as a player and has developed even further.  The graph below compares these two seasons.  Lebron this year trumps his past self in points, rebounds, assists and TS%.  In the 2012-13 season, James was one vote shy of becoming the first ever unanimous MVP.  This year is comparable, if not more impressive.  Is Lebron going to make history again and become the first player ever to win an MVP fifteen years into his career, five years after he won his last one?

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    Stats taken from Basketball-reference.com, Lebron James stats as of December 2nd 2017.

    By Lee Shields