More NI women smoke than men

Female smokers now outnumber their male counterparts in Northern Ireland for the first time, a new report claims.

The Northern Ireland Annual Abstract of Statistics found that 29 per cent of women smoked compared with 28 per cent of men in 1998-1999, in the first data collection to show a higher proportion of female smokers.

The 18th Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency-produced report contains information on population, housing, social and welfare, health, education, crime and justice.

The report also found women were much more likely to consult their doctors than men. When the data were collected in 1998-1999, 20 per cent of females said they had visited a doctor in the previous 14 days, compared with only 12 per cent of males.

In 1998-1999, 92 per cent of Northern Ireland school-leavers achieved two or more A-levels, compared with 81 per cent in England and 91 per cent in Wales.

Fifty-six per cent of Northern Ireland youngsters obtained five or more GCSEs at grades A to C, while only 48 per cent reached this target in the rest of the UK.

The pass rate for the driving test in Northern Ireland was 57 per cent, compared to 45 per cent in the rest of the UK.

However, the report also showed that the number of people leaving the North to live elsewhere was more than 2,800 - the highest figure for almost a decade.

Northern Ireland's Gross Domestic Product in 1998 was £9,438 per head, just over three quarters of the United Kingdom average.

The figures also reflected the crisis in the agriculture industry in the North, revealing that the total income from farming fell by 22 per cent to £70.9 million between 1998 and 1999.

The report also revealed that throughout the 1990s the number of hospital beds available on the National Health Service decreased by around a third.

The report also showed that the divorce rate dropped by 18 per cent from 1998 to 1999.

Although crime rates in Northern Ireland increased by 9 per cent between 1998-1999 and 1999-2000, the crime rate per 1,000 of the population remained much lower at 70 than 101 in England and Wales.

Welcoming its publication, the North's Minister of Finance and Personnel, Mr Mark Durkan, said the report enabled social and economic commentators to review trends and to identify key changes in society.