Interesting Ireland Facts

We've been on a 2 week hiatus from our team meetings, so nothing new to report yet. We have our next meeting tomorrow morning and each Sunday from then until our trip. We'll be posting more soon! In the meantime, here are some interesting facts about Ireland that one of our teammates gave us all at the last meeting 2 weeks ago!

1. Population over 4 million (as of July 05) - equally divided between males and females
2. Over 40% of the population lives within 97km of Dublin (the capital of Ireland)
3. Median age is 33 years
4. 98% literacy rate
5. 12 million sheep
6. Average life expectancy is 77.56 years
7. There are 900 pubs in Dublin, but rural pubs are closing at a rate of 1 a day due to a combo of high costs, smoking ban, and tougher laws against driving while intoxicated
8. All windmills in Ireland turn clockwise, the rest of the windmills in the world turn counter-clockwise
9. over 10,000 new businesses started in the first six months of this year
10. Ireland is the 2nd wealthiest nation in the world with over 30,000 millionaires
11. First divorce ever granted by the Irish government was in 1997
12. Vikings founded Dublin in 988 and they called it "Black Pool"
13. Dublin is the newest "microchip" capital of the world and world's largest exporter of software
14. Dublin is second in traffic jams behind Calcutta, India
15. The average cost of a home in Dublin is $283,000
16. World's only country with a musical instrument for a national symbol - the harp
17. The original White House was designed by Irish architect James Hotan in 1792. He oversaw the 3 year long restoration after the British burned it in the war of 1812.
18. The first American general to die in The Revolution Richard Montgomery, born in Donegal, Ireland
19. Natural resources are natural gas, peat, copper, lead, zinc, silver, gypsum, limestone, and dolomite
20. 10,000 Chinese students a year come for 12 months , spend 3 months learning English, 9 months working, then return home and allow the next group to come. 125 workers look after all of them
21. The battle of 1690 led to the battle between the Protestants and Catholics that is still going on today
22. The 3 color Irish flag, created in 1848, reflects the country's political realities. Orange stands for Irish Protestants, Green for Irish Catholics, and the white stripe for the hope that peace might eventually be reached between them
23. Ireland has the 2nd highest number of lawyers per capital in the world, after the USA
24. Ireland has the lowest unemployment rate of any country in the European Union
25. In a recent national survey conducted for Catholic and Protestant organizations, only 5% of 15-24 year olds could quote the 1st commandment. About 1/3 didn't know where Jesus was born, and 35% did not know what is being celebrated on Easter
26. Old Irish legend says that while Christ will judge all nations on judgment day, St. Patrick will be the judge of the Irish.