In April 2026, the estimated number of people in Ireland aged 65 years and over was 891,100, up 30,000 on April 2025.
In 2025, more than one-third (36.5%) of respondents aged 65 years and over had high overall life satisfaction compared with 22.1% of respondents aged 25 to 49 years.
Almost half (47.5%) of respondents aged 65 to 74 years and 27.2% of respondents aged 75 years and over undertook sports, fitness, or recreational physical activities at least three times a week in 2025.
The number of healthy life years after the age of 65 that people can expect is increasing, up from 11.7 years in 2023 to 12.3 years in 2024.
The consistent poverty rate was 3.4% for those aged 65 years and over in 2025, compared with 7.8% for those aged 0 to 17 years.
More than four in ten (42%) respondents aged 60 years and over, worried they would be a victim of crime arising from their use of the internet in 2025, compared with 14% in 2019.
There are many ways to help understand the lives of older people: seeing changes over time, comparing indicators, and looking more deeply at the intergenerational differences within Ireland. One of the aims of the Hub is to provide an accessible facility for users to examine these themes and indicators for themselves, to better understand the lives of older people. This Hub provides indicators sourced from a range of CSO releases and surveys, and other public sector organisations.
The Older Persons Information Hub covers the following themes:
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (30 September 2026) published an update to the Older Persons Information Hub in recognition of the United Nations' (UN) International Day of Older Persons. The Hub provides a snapshot into the lives of older people in Ireland, highlighting social and economic indicators from a broad range of CSO publications and sources from across the government system.
Commenting on the Older Persons Information Hub, Sarah Crilly, Statistician in the Social Cohesion and Sustainable Development Goals Division of the CSO, said: “The Older Persons Hub allows us to bring a broad range of indicators together to provide insight on growing older in Ireland. Overall, we can see that people are living longer and can expect to enjoy an increasing number of healthy life years after 65. Interestingly, 90% of respondents aged 60 to 74 years in 2025 used the internet in the previous three months, but those aged 60 years and over who are worried they would be a victim of crime arising from their use of the internet has risen from 14% in 2019 to 42% in 2025.
Population and Health
Our April 2025 population estimates found that the number of people aged between 0 and 14 years fell below 1 million to 992,400 for the first time since 2014. At the same time, those aged 65 and over rose to 891,100 people, from 589,500 in 2014. In 2037, under the M2 projection scenario there is projected to be 1,226,300 people aged 65 years and over in Ireland. Healthy life years (HLY) measures the number of years that a person aged 65 years is expected to live in a healthy condition, it is a health expectancy indicator which combines information on mortality and morbidity. The number of HLY remaining is also increasing, up from 11.7 years in 2023 to 12.3 years in 2024 for those aged 65.
In 2025, seven in ten (69.6%) respondents aged 65 to 74 years reported being in good or very good health, compared with 59.5% of respondents aged 75 years and older. Respondents aged 75 years and over with caring responsibilities spent an average of 60 hours per week caring, compared with 49 hours per week for those aged 65 to 74 years.
Almost half (47.5%) of respondents aged 65 to 74 years and more than a quarter 27.2% of respondents aged 75 years and over undertook sports, fitness, or recreational physical activities at least three times a week. Twice as many respondents aged 75 years and over (21.3%), who are limited due to health problems had difficulty getting out of a bed or a chair, compared with 9.8% of those aged 65 to 74 years. Seven in ten (69.3%) respondents aged 75 years and over would easily, or very easily, get practical help from neighbours compared with 40.9% of those aged 25 to 34 years in 2025. Four in ten (40.3%) of respondents aged 75 years and over never consume alcohol, compared with 23.5% of those aged 65 to 74 years.
Internet and Crime
In 2025, of those that used the internet, half of respondents (48%) aged 60 to 74 years used it for social networking compared with 90% respondents aged 30 to 44 years. Less than two-thirds (63%) of respondents aged 75 years and over had used the internet in the past three months, compared with 90% of respondents aged 60 to 74 years. At the same time, 42% of respondents aged 60 years and over worried they would be a victim of crime arising from their use of the internet, compared with 14% in 2019.
There were similar figures for fraud, with 45% of respondents aged 60 years and over, worried they could be a victim of a crime involving fraud or deception targeting their personal finances or data in 2025, compared with 19% in 2019. A higher percentage of 60 years and over (58%) felt very safe walking alone or accompanied around their local area, compared with 46% of those aged 30 to 44 years. In 2025, the percentage of respondents whose lives were impacted by antisocial behaviour in their local area to a little or great extent was lowest for those age 60 years and over at 11%, and highest for those aged 30 to 44 years at 24%.
Poverty and Society
Looking at poverty and enforced deprivation, the consistent poverty rate was 3.4% for those aged 65 years and over in 2025, less than half the rate (7.8%) for children aged 0-17 years. At the same time, there was an increase in the enforced deprivation rate for those aged 65 years and over, up from 7.7% in 2024 to 9.8% in 2025. Of those in work, 15.5% of respondents aged 65 years and over had an absence from work due to health problems in the past 12 months, compared with 33.5% of those aged 35 to 44 years.
In 2025, approximately 232,000 men and 190,000 women aged 70 years and older held driving full driving licences, up from 153,000 and 110,000 respectively in 2016. In 2025, there were 1,387 opposite sex marriages registered by persons aged 60 year and over, more than double the number in 2015 at 613 marriages."