There were a total of 643,131 people who stated they had a disability in April 2016, accounting for 13.5 per cent of the population. This represented an increase of 47,796 persons (8%) on the 2011 figure of 595,335. In 2016, 311,580 (48.4%) persons with a disability were male while 331,551 (51.6%) were female.
Note: for the purpose of this report a disabled person has been classified as someone who responded 'yes' to any of the 7 categories in question 16 on long-lasting conditions or 'yes' to any of the four categories in question 17 on difficulties.
Figure 1.1 shows the number of disabled persons by age group alongside the percentage of the total population in that age group with a disability.
Up to one in ten persons below 45 years of age had a disability, rising to 20 per cent by age 60. Rates increase sharply above age 70, with 27.7 per cent of females aged 70-74 having a disability and 73.3 per cent of females over age 84 having a disability.
The rate of disability fell for all categories above age 45 compared with 2011. However, the increase in the number of older people means the actual number of people with a disability over 65 years has increased by 20,319 over the five years from 204,069 in 2011 to 224,388 in 2016.
Among those aged under 20, there was an increase of 11,828 persons with a disability (15.6%) since 2011, representing a disability rate of 6.7 per cent (up from 6% in 2011).
| Age group | Female Percentage | Male Percentage | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 2.40814913712 | 3.52440037471 | 3896 | 5982 |
| 5-9 | 4.53038927917009 | 8.24599107290461 | 7887 | 14964 |
| 10-14 | 6.30373227075299 | 10.1096842904185 | 9840 | 16517 |
| 15-19 | 8.71758119912378 | 10.0821132543187 | 12894 | 15618 |
| 20-24 | 9.07447152559316 | 9.16312943365508 | 12346 | 12607 |
| 25-29 | 8.06041533903149 | 7.9843274435003 | 12269 | 11595 |
| 30-34 | 8.13099853810462 | 7.81099324975892 | 15351 | 13527 |
| 35-39 | 9.07216598782111 | 8.37970111753775 | 17997 | 16009 |
| 40-44 | 10.6996410672416 | 9.93509200933052 | 19257 | 17633 |
| 45-49 | 12.4872922357091 | 11.7052768633617 | 20390 | 19059 |
| 50-54 | 15.0023397902757 | 14.1958815750412 | 22762 | 21040 |
| 55-59 | 17.9420745133731 | 17.7382001822827 | 24445 | 23744 |
| 60-64 | 20.6045373591438 | 22.2042494397547 | 24758 | 26356 |
| 65-69 | 22.5904493060456 | 23.9850992273321 | 24008 | 25175 |
| 70-74 | 27.6896497565572 | 27.2436824694029 | 22919 | 21659 |
| 75-79 | 38.5672371638142 | 35.1386810059686 | 23661 | 19016 |
| 80-84 | 52.9133308610196 | 46.5905216501875 | 24256 | 16398 |
| 85+ | 73.3036657451734 | 63.6588327118203 | 32615 | 14681 |
Interactive table: StatBank Link E9001
Disability was more common amongst males in all age categories up to age 24, peaking in the 5-9 age groups where there were almost twice as many disabled boys (14,964) as girls (7,887).
Between the ages of 25 and 59, there were proportionally more females with a disability, while the ratio shifts for those in their sixties.
From age 70 onwards, due to lower male life expectancy, we see significantly higher proportions of disabled persons were female with 69 per cent of disabled persons aged 85 years and over being female.
| Age group | Females | Males |
|---|---|---|
| 85+ | 68.9593200270636 | 31.0406799729364 |
| 80-84 | 59.6644856594677 | 40.3355143405323 |
| 75-79 | 55.4420413806031 | 44.5579586193969 |
| 70-74 | 51.4132531742115 | 48.5867468257885 |
| 65-69 | 48.813614460281 | 51.186385539719 |
| 60-64 | 48.436827483664 | 51.563172516336 |
| 55-59 | 50.7273444147004 | 49.2726555852996 |
| 50-54 | 51.9656636683256 | 48.0343363316744 |
| 45-49 | 51.6869882633273 | 48.3130117366727 |
| 40-44 | 52.2011385199241 | 47.7988614800759 |
| 35-39 | 52.9230135858378 | 47.0769864141622 |
| 30-34 | 53.1581134427592 | 46.8418865572408 |
| 25-29 | 51.4121689574254 | 48.5878310425746 |
| 20-24 | 49.4770167915681 | 50.5229832084318 |
| 15-19 | 45.223063973064 | 54.776936026936 |
| 10-14 | 37.3335356831202 | 62.6664643168798 |
| 5-9 | 34.5149008796114 | 65.4850991203886 |
| 0-4 | 39.4411824255922 | 60.5588175744078 |
Interactive table: StatBank Link E9008
It's a Fact
Figure 1.3 shows the percentage of the population at each age with a disability for 2011 and 2016.This shows that the relative proportion of persons with a disability decreased for most ages, particularly for persons over 65. However, there was a notable increase in the percentage of young adults with a disability between the ages of 15 to 29.
| 2016 | 2011 | |
| 100 years and over | 87.280701754386 | 84.8329048843188 |
| 95-99 | 81.4 | 86.2 |
| 90-94 | 77.7 | 78.8 |
| 85-89 | 65.7 | 68.6 |
| 80-84 | 50.2 | 54.5 |
| 75-79 | 37 | 40.6 |
| 70-74 | 27.5 | 30.1 |
| 65-69 | 23.3 | 24.6 |
| 60-64 | 21.4 | 22.3 |
| 55-59 | 17.8 | 18.5 |
| 50-54 | 14.6 | 15 |
| 45-49 | 12.1 | 12.4 |
| 40-44 | 10.3 | 10.3 |
| 35-39 | 8.7 | 8.8 |
| 30-34 | 8 | 7.5 |
| 25-29 | 8 | 6.9 |
| 20-24 | 9.1 | 7.3 |
| 15-19 | 9.4 | 8 |
| 10-14 | 8.3 | 7.7 |
| 5-9 | 6.4 | 6.1 |
| 0-4 | 3 | 2.8 |
It's a Fact
Map 1.1 shows the percentage of the total population in each administrative county with a disability.
The administrative counties with the greatest number of persons with a disability were those with the largest populations, led by Dublin city with 81,502 (+3.7% on the 2011 figure of 78,610) and County Cork with 52,659 (+11.4% on the 2011 figure of 47,274). At the other end of the scale Leitrim (4,486 up 4.6%), Longford (5,916 up 9.5%) and Monaghan (7,214 up 0.4%) had the fewest persons with a disability.
Cork city (18.1%) had the highest rate of disabled persons. The lowest rates of disability were in Fingal (10.8%), Meath (11.6%) and Monaghan (11.8%). As disability is highly associated with age, the areas with a high rate of disability have older populations compared to Fingal, Meath and Monaghan which have a young population.
Interactive table: StatBank Link E9003
| Table 1.1 Disability in towns with population of 1,500+ persons, 2016 | |||
| Lowest % Disability | Highest % Disability | ||
| Oranmore | 7.6 | Castlerea | 23.6 |
| Kinsealy-Drinan | 8.0 | Boyle | 23.1 |
| Bearna | 8.4 | Kilrush | 22.7 |
| Stamullen | 8.6 | Convoy | 20.8 |
| Saggart | 9.0 | Bantry | 20.8 |
| Dunboyne | 9.0 | Rathdrum | 20.6 |
| Ratoath | 9.1 | Courtown Harbour | 19.5 |
| Sallins | 9.1 | Castlecomer-Donaguile | 19.5 |
| Enfield | 9.2 | Ballyshannon | 19.4 |
| Tullyallen | 9.3 | Ballaghaderreen | 19.3 |
Interactive table: StatBank Link E9004
It's a Fact
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