There were 30.3 per cent of disabled persons who were head of a private household in April 2016 (177,181 persons) up 6.3 per cent on 2011. Another 28.1 per cent were not members of the main family, but were instead an 'other relative or non-family resident', up 6.9 per cent on 2011. Just over a fifth (21.3%) of disabled persons were coded as children in a private household.
Figure 2.1 shows the family status by type of disability showing that children in the family unit accounted for the majority of intellectual (61.4%) learning (43.7%) disabilities.
| Type of disability | Others | Child | Spouse | Head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blindness or a serious vision impairment | 17386 | 8264 | 8985 | 13892 |
| Deafness or a serious hearing impairment | 31254 | 7743 | 18804 | 37073 |
| An intellectual disability | 14258 | 35470 | 3311 | 4684 |
| Difficulty with learning, remembering or concentrating | 34596 | 57685 | 15075 | 24549 |
| A difficulty with physical activities | 81462 | 20345 | 51352 | 75509 |
| Difficulty with pain, breathing or other chronic illness | 74794 | 36870 | 66122 | 91303 |
| Psychological or emotional condition | 31418 | 31420 | 17747 | 25334 |
| Difficulty in dressing, bathing or getting around home | 36307 | 22474 | 21507 | 29358 |
| Difficulty in working or attending school/college | 52623 | 40974 | 35929 | 50426 |
| Difficulty in participating in other activities | 60959 | 38747 | 40692 | 54639 |
| Difficulty in going outside the home alone | 53009 | 31843 | 28335 | 37523 |
Interactive table: StatBank Link E9024
Table 2.1 shows the number of disabled adult children aged 25 and over (never married and living with a parent) by type of disability.
There were 28,935 persons in this category accounting for 13.1 per cent of all adult children, up from 11.9 per cent in 2011. As in 2011, the most common disability was difficulty working or attending school/college with 12,836 persons affected, up 18 per cent on 2011, followed by difficulties participating in other activities (10,163 persons, up 18.1%) and difficulty with pain, breathing or other chronic illness or conditions (9,356 persons, up 15.3%).
| Table 2.1 Adult children aged 25 and over by type of disability, 2016 | |
| Type of disability | |
| Blindness or a serious vision impairment | 2,031 |
| Deafness or a serious hearing impairment | 2,244 |
| A difficulty with physical activities | 7,080 |
| An intellectual disability | 8,723 |
| Difficulty with learning, remembering or concentrating | 9,142 |
| Psychological or emotional condition | 8,897 |
| Difficulty with pain, breathing, including chronic illness | 9,356 |
| Difficulty in dressing, bathing or getting around inside the home | 4,397 |
| Difficulty in going outside the home alone | 7,724 |
| Difficulty in working or attending school/college | 12,836 |
| Difficulty in participating in other activities | 10,163 |
| Persons aged 25 and over living at home with parents | 221,706 |
| Number who had a disability | 28,935 |
| Percentage who had a disability | 13.1% |
Interactive table: StatBank Link E9028
It's a Fact
A total of 112,904 disabled persons, representing 19.3 per cent of the total disabled population, lived alone in private households in April 2016. More women than men with a disability lived alone with 61,948 women and 50,956 men, both up just over 6 per cent since 2011.
There were 61,756 disabled persons aged 65 and over. Figure 2.2 shows the number of persons aged 65 and over living alone by type of disability. A condition that limits basic physical activities affected 39,124 people, of whom 26,505 (67.7%) were women. Substantial numbers also have pain, breathing or other chronic illnesses (28,237 persons), had difficulty in going outside the home alone (24,767 persons) and difficulty in participating in other activities (24,498).
Those with intellectual disabilities were 55 per cent male, whereas in all other categories women outnumbered men by around two to one.
| Type of disability | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| Blindness or serious vision impairment | 5081 | -2899 |
| Deafness or a serious hearing impairment | 11011 | -6257 |
| A difficulty with basic physical activities | 26505 | -12619 |
| An intellectual disability | 692 | -842 |
| Difficulty in learning, remembering or concentrating | 6122 | -3663 |
| Psychological or emotional condition | 2164 | -1586 |
| Difficulty with pain, breathing or chronic illness | 18420 | -9817 |
| Difficulty in dressing, bathing or getting around home | 11286 | -5193 |
| Difficulty in going outside the home alone | 17966 | -6801 |
| Difficulty in working or attending school/college | 9076 | -4960 |
| Difficulty in participating in other activities | 17048 | -7450 |
Interactive table: StatBank Link E9025
| Disabled - Living Alone | Disabled - Living with others | No disability | |
| Male | 21657 | 62769 | 192977 |
| Female | 40099 | 65600 | 204182 |
It's a Fact
Figure 2.4 shows the highest level of education completed for disabled persons and the general population aged between 15 and 50. The results show that the level of education completed by disabled people was substantially lower.
Amongst disabled persons aged 15 to 50 (inclusive), 13.7 per cent had completed no higher than primary level education, compared with 4.2 per cent of the general population.
People with a disability were less likely to complete third level education, with 37 per cent educated to this level, compared with 53.4 per cent of the general population aged 15 to 50 (inclusive).
| Male Total population | Male with a disability | Female Total Population | Female with a disability | |
| Doctorate (Ph.D) | -1.1 | -0.7 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Postgraduate diploma or degree | -10.6 | -6.1 | 15.2 | 9.2 |
| Honours batchelor degree/professional qualification or both | -14.1 | -8.5 | 17.9 | 11.3 |
| Ordinary batchelor degree/professional qualification or both | -8.6 | -5.9 | 10.1 | 7.9 |
| Higher certificate | -5.4 | -4.4 | 6.9 | 6.3 |
| Advanced certificate/completed apprenticeship | -10.2 | -7.4 | 5.5 | 5.2 |
| Technical/vocational | -9.3 | -9.5 | 12 | 13.5 |
| Upper secondary | -21.3 | -19.7 | 19.3 | 19.9 |
| Lower secondary | -14.3 | -21.1 | 8.6 | 15 |
| Primary | -3.9 | -9.8 | 2.6 | 6.7 |
| No formal education | -1.2 | -6.9 | 0.8 | 4.3 |
Census 2016 shows that people with a disability ceased their full-time education at an earlier age than the total population with 6,335 (5.4%) disabled persons aged 15 to 50 (inclusive) having left full-time education before reaching the age of 15, compared with 1.9 per cent for the State. Also, almost 47 per cent of disabled persons had finished their education between the ages of 15 and 18, compared with 37.7 per cent of the general population.
It's a Fact
There were 176,445 persons with a disability in the labour force giving a labour force participation rate of 30.2 per cent, compared with a rate of 61.4 per cent for the overall population.
However, given the disproportionally large number of people aged 65 and over among the disabled population (34.9% compared with 13.4% of the general population), it is informative to examine the data for those aged 15 to 64 only.
Among the total population in this age group participation rates were 78 per cent for men and 65.9 for women, while for those with disabilities the rates were 51.1 per cent and 42.2 per cent respectively.
Figure 2.5 shows the labour force participation rates by age. Clearly illustrated are the lower participation rates for people with disabilities. The peak ages for labour force participation for those with disabilities were 30-34 years for men at 68.6 per cent, and 25-29 for women at 63.4 per cent. In the general population, the male participation rate peaks between 30-34 years at 93.1 per cent, while female participation peaks at 82.7 per cent between the ages of 30 and 34.
| Female participation rate (Persons with disability) | Female participation rate (Total population) | Male participation rate (Persons with disability) | Male participation rate (Total population) | |
| 15-19 years | 9.3 | 9.2 | 10.7 | 12.4 |
| 20-24 years | 43.4 | 53.5 | 46.6 | 59.4 |
| 25-29 years | 63.4 | 81.7 | 66 | 88.5 |
| 30-34 years | 61.1 | 82.7 | 68.6 | 93.1 |
| 35-39 years | 56.5 | 80.1 | 68.5 | 93.8 |
| 40-44 years | 51.2 | 76.3 | 64.1 | 92.9 |
| 45-49 years | 45.6 | 74.1 | 59.8 | 91.4 |
| 50-54 years | 41.1 | 72.4 | 54.2 | 88.7 |
| 55-59 years | 34.9 | 64.7 | 47.6 | 82.2 |
| 60-64 years | 24.2 | 45.7 | 36.5 | 66.4 |
| 65-69 years | 6.3 | 12.2 | 12.8 | 25.3 |
| 70-74 years | 2.6 | 4.8 | 6.7 | 13.2 |
| 75-79 years | 1.5 | 2.2 | 4 | 7.7 |
| 80-84 years | 1 | 1.4 | 2.7 | 4.6 |
| 85 years and over | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 3 |
Figure 2.6 shows the labour force participation rate for those aged 15 to 64 for each type of disability. Those with deafness or a severe hearing impairment had the highest participation rate of all disabilities at 58.4 per cent, up from 56.9 per cent in 2011. At the other end of the scale, those with difficulty in going outside the home alone had the lowest rate of participation at 19.7 per cent (21.1% for males and 18.4% for females). There are substantial differences between participation rates for males and females across all categories, with males recording higher rates across the board.
| Female | Male | |
| Blindness or a serious vision impairment | 42.4 | -52.2 |
| Deafness or a serious hearing impairment | 50.9 | -64.2 |
| An intellectual disability | 23 | -27.4 |
| Difficulty in learning, remembering or concentrating | 29.9 | -38.2 |
| Difficulty with basic physical activities | 26 | -32.5 |
| Difficulty with pain, breathing or other chronic illness | 40.6 | -49.6 |
| Psychological or emotional condition | 38.3 | -41.6 |
| Difficulty in dressing, bathing or getting around inside the home | 19 | -22.2 |
| Difficulty in working or attending school/college | 21.6 | -27.4 |
| Difficulty in participating in other activities | 25.9 | -30.7 |
| Difficulty in going outside the home alone | 18.4 | -21.1 |
Interactive table: StatBank Link E9009
It's a Fact
There were 130,067 persons with a disability aged 15 and over at work, accounting for 22.3 per cent of the total disabled working population of 584,045. This compares with 53.4 per cent for the overall population aged 15 and over who were at work.
Figure 2.7 shows the number and percentage of disabled men and women at work in each age group. The percentage of disabled men at work reached a peak in the 35-39 age group with 51 per cent at work, while female participation peaked in the 30-34 age group at 48.6 per cent.
From the ages of 20 to 34, the number of female workers with a disability exceeded their male colleagues, but from age 35 onwards the number of male workers exceeded female workers in both number and proportion of disabled workers.
Overall in April 2016, 6.5 per cent of the people at work had a disability.
| Age group | Female Percentage | Male Percentage | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15-19 years | 4 | 4.4 | 510 | 683 |
| 20-24 years | 29.3 | 27.3 | 3613 | 3441 |
| 25-29 years | 48.3 | 43.5 | 5929 | 5041 |
| 30-34 years | 48.6 | 50 | 7457 | 6765 |
| 35-39 years | 45 | 51 | 8103 | 8169 |
| 40-44 years | 40.4 | 47.5 | 7774 | 8382 |
| 45-49 years | 35.6 | 43.2 | 7265 | 8233 |
| 50-54 years | 31.2 | 39.2 | 7104 | 8251 |
| 55-59 years | 25.8 | 34.3 | 6314 | 8142 |
| 60-64 years | 16.9 | 25.1 | 4175 | 6617 |
| 65+ | 2 | 5.8 | 2488 | 5611 |
The unemployment rate amongst persons with a disability was 26.3 per cent, over twice the 12.9 per cent rate for the population as a whole.
Figure 2.8 shows the rate of unemployment amongst persons aged 15 and over by type of disability.
Those with difficulty going outside the home alone had the highest rate of unemployment at 45.8 per cent, while those experiencing deafness or a serious hearing impairment had the lowest unemployment rate at 20 per cent.
Male unemployment exceeded female unemployment for all disability types with those experiencing a psychological or emotional condition showing the greatest difference at 9.3 per cent.
| Unemployment rate | |
| Total persons | 12.9 |
| Disabled Persons | 26.3 |
| Blindness or a serious vision impairment | 28.2 |
| Deafness or a serious hearing impairment | 20 |
| An intellectual disability | 42.8 |
| Difficulty in learning, remembering or concentrating | 39.7 |
| A difficulty with basic physical activities | 35.6 |
| A difficulty with pain, breathing or other chronic illness | 23.3 |
| Psychological or emotional condition | 35.6 |
| Difficulty in dressing, bathing or getting around inside the home | 35.9 |
| Difficulty in working or attending school/college | 41.2 |
| Difficulty in participating in other activities | 32 |
| Difficulty in going outside the home alone | 45.8 |
It's a Fact
| Other incl. not stated-Female | Nursing home/Childrens home-Female | Hospital-Female | Hospital-Male | Nursing home/Childrens home-Male | Other incl. not stated-Male | |
| 65 years and over | 2146 | 13791 | 3825 | -3041 | -6911 | -1319 |
| 45 - 64 years | 979 | 1417 | 694 | -879 | -1696 | -1428 |
| 25 - 44 years | 869 | 494 | 342 | -386 | -711 | -1423 |
| 15 - 24 years | 524 | 114 | 114 | -95 | -157 | -693 |
| 0 - 14 years | 109 | 21 | 77 | -62 | -44 | -170 |
A total of 44,531 people with disabilities were enumerated in communal establishments in April 2016, comprising 19,015 males and 25,516 females. This was below the 2011 figure of 44,952 (-421 or -0.9%) and represented 6.9 per cent of all disabled persons. Figure 2.9 breaks down this data by age group and type of establishment.
A total of 49,426 persons in the State aged 65 and over were in communal establishments, with 31,033 (62.8%) of these being persons with a disability. Of these, 20,702 were in nursing homes and 6,866 in hospital. Other types of establishment, including religious institutions, shelters and refuges accounted for 3,465 persons.
Less than one per cent (0.8%) of disabled children (483 persons) aged 0-14 lived in a communal establishment.
By contrast, nearly 14 per cent (13.8%) of disabled persons aged 65 and over were living in communal establishments, compared with 7.8 per cent of non-disabled persons in the same age group.
Figure 2.10 shows the percentage of those in communal establishments who were disabled, by age group.
Just over thirty five per cent of those who were in communal establishments were disabled.
For those aged 65 and over, nearly nine in ten (87.8%) of those in nursing homes were disabled and nearly 66 per cent (65.5%) of those in hospital were disabled.
| Other incl. not stated-Female | Nursing home/Childrens home-Female | Hospital-Female | Hospital-Male | Nursing home/Childrens home-Male | Other incl. not stated-Male | |
| 65 years and over | 25.5628350208457 | 88.1439345519622 | 67.3890063424947 | -63.2224532224532 | -87.1061255356693 | -18.9375448671931 |
| 45 - 64 years | 9.13757700205339 | 88.7288666249217 | 48.8732394366197 | -51.6754850088183 | -91.280947255113 | -11.7135591830039 |
| 25 - 44 years | 8.23774765380605 | 80.064829821718 | 26.5321955003879 | -47.5369458128079 | -88.5429638854296 | -9.40950869536468 |
| 15 - 24 years | 9.54984508839074 | 55.609756097561 | 38.5135135135135 | -47.029702970297 | -59.9236641221374 | -11.0614525139665 |
| 0 - 14 years | 5.11017346460384 | 63.6363636363636 | 14.7792706333973 | -11.5456238361266 | -63.768115942029 | -8.13786500718047 |
It's a Fact
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