Census Results Show Irish Population in Good Health

Almost 6 in 10 people in Ireland reckon they enjoy very good health, according to the latest results issued by the Central Statistics Office. The findings come from the 2016 Census, and the statistics released on the 15th June relate to socio-economic aspects of life in Ireland such as education, employment, occupation, health, disabilities and caring. At Finders Ireland, a lot of the research work we do to find the rightful heirs to an estate uses census results, as they are one of the best sources of information about families at a particular time.

What else did the 2016 census reveal?

Health and Caring The numbers of people reporting ‘bad health’ increased from 57,243 to 62,697. Those who said they were in ‘very bad health’ increased from 12,418 to 13,738. On the plus side, the number of people aged 60-79 in very good health increased from 72.5% to 73.8%.

The number of people reporting a disability increased to 643,131 (13.5% of the population). A total of 4.1% of the population provided unpaid care for others in 2016 (195,263 people), another increase (8,151 compared to 2011). As well as an increase in the number of carers, the time spent caring is also up – 83,754 people provide care for up to two hours a day (up from 80,891), and 41,185 people are caring for more than six hours a day (previously 39,982).

Employment, Unemployment and Retirement – the number of people in work increased by 199,281, reaching 2,006,641 in April 2016. The number of women in work grew by 9.0% to 929,967, while there were 1,076,674 men at work, an increase of 12.8% since 2011. There were 293,830 non-Irish nationals working in the country, an increase of 9.6% since April 2011. The number of retired people increased by 19.2 % to 545,407. The number of women looking after the home or family has continued to fall – 11.5%. Interestingly, the number of men in this category increased by 15% in the same period (2011- 2016) taking the total to 20,747. This represents 6.8% of all homemakers. In April 2016, the unemployment rate was 12.9%. Waterford had the highest unemployment rate at 18.8%, Longford had the biggest number among the large towns (30.6 %). The census recorded 79 unemployment blackspots – i.e. electoral districts where there are at least 200 people in the labour force, and an unemployment rate of 27% or higher. Eight of these were in Limerick. Employment Facts In the 2016 Census, almost four-fifths of those at work (78.6%) were employed in the services sector. Among women, 90.7% of all those employed worked in this industry. Health and social work saw the biggest increase in workers, with 25,647 more people working in this area. Other sectors that experienced notable increases included computer and related activities (up by 21,877, i.e. more than 50 percent) and construction (up 15,092). Some 5,991 fewer people worked in Public Administration and Defence saw a decrease of 5,991 people, while 5,361 fewer people worked in banking.

Read the full report on the latest 2016 Irish Census Results here.