THE average Irish household is in debt to the tune of almost €115,000, new figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal.

It appears that Irish people were accumulating unprecedented amounts of personal debt during the boom times in order to fuel their lavish lifestyles.

The figures released yesterday in the CSO's Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2008 take into account the state of the nation at the end of 2007 -- before the recession got into full swing.

The figures show that lending by credit institutions to private households increased to a record €148bn in 2007, up €14bn on the previous year.

It also notes that the first signs of a major downturn were evident last year as the current account of the Government's balance of payments had a deficit of €10bn.

unmanageable

However, while people were accumulating massive debts, they were also earning more than ever before.

Pay rates have risen to the point where in 2006 the average worker got a net salary of €37,000.

That indicates a rise of almost 20pc on the 2002 figure, although weekly wages among workers depends greatly on their area of employment.

Civil servants get an average weekly payment of €838, education workers earn €921, gardai get €1,205 and employees in the semi-state sector earn around €1,000.

Men are still better paidwith the average man earning €13,000 more than the average female.

But the yearbook paints a picture of a changing society where people have slid into sometimes unmanageable debt.

According to the statistics, Ireland has a relatively high level of poverty, while crime is on rise.

However, there was some good news, as we have a better standard of health and education than ever before.

Poverty has dropped slightly, but in international terms Ireland still scores quite badly.

The proportion of the population who experienced some element of enforced deprivation fell from 19pc to 18pc between 2005 and 2006.

poverty

The number of people dealing with consistent poverty rose slightly. Lone parents households were the worst affected.

The level at which a household is said to be at risk of poverty is €202 a week.

The majority of crimes were up between 2003 and 2007. In that period, homicide offences rose by almost two-thirds.

Anti-social behaviour, murder threats and assault also rose sharply.

But smaller felonies such as burglary and robberies are now less frequent.

Other statistics show that 57pc of people now have access to the internet and unsurprisingly the country is becoming more ethnically diverse.

Some 188 countries are represented in the non-Irish national population.

However, a massive 82pc of the 420,000 foreign nationals came from just a selection of ten countries, comprising: Poland, Britain, the United States, Lithuania, Latvia, Nigeria, Germany, France, Philippines and China.

- Kevin Doyle