Ireland

IRELAND
=**GEOGRAPHY**=

This country is surrounded by water with the nearest country being England to the west at 360km. Its land mass is comparitive to the the state of West Virginia.
Ireland's terrain is mostly level land with rolling interior plains, surrounded by rugged hills and low mountains. The climate consists of mild winters and cool summers. Most of the day is overcast and usually humid.

Land Use
Ireland's land use is 16.82% arable land, 0.03% permanent crops, and 83% other.



Environmental Hazards
There are no natural hazards,but water pollution from the agricultural runoff is a major man made environmental hazard.

=People=

Population: 4,622,917 as of July 2010
Ireland is ranked as the 120th biggest population in the world.

Age Structure
Life Expectancy: 0-14: 20.9% (male 454,571/ female 424,022) 15-64 years: 67.1% (male 1,411.336/ female 1,409,760) 65 years and over: 12% (male 224,850/ female 278,661) (as of 2010)

Birth and Death Rates
16.37 births / 1,000 population (as of 2010) 6.3 deaths / 1000 population (as of 2010)

Religions
Roman Catholic: 87.4% Church of Ireland: 2.9% Other Christian: 1.9% Other: 2.1% Unspecified/no religion: 5.7%

Languages
English is the official language but Irish (Gaelic or Gaeilge) is spoken mainly along the western coast.

Type
Republic and Parlaimentary Democracy

Capital
City: Dublin Geographic coordinates: 53.19 N, 6.14 W Time difference: UTC 0 (5 hours ahead of Washington DC during standard time)

There are 29 counties and 5 cities

Independence:
6th of December 1921 (from the UK by treaty)

National Holday:
Saint Patricks Day: March 17th