Very healthy

There was no change in the question on general health between 2011 and 2016. In 2011, 88.3 per cent of the population felt they had good or very good health, this fell slightly to 87 per cent in 2016. Looking at health over a lifespan, almost 4 in 5 of the 15-19 age group (79%) felt they had very good health, by 40-44 years this had fallen to 58.6 per cent and by 65-69 years was down to 31.3 per cent. In those aged 85 years and over, just under 1 in 10 (9.6%) perceived they had very good health.

In the State overall, 59.5 per cent of men felt their health was very good, compared with 59.3 per cent of women. The percentage of men with very good health was higher than women in those aged 15-29 and 75+, but between the ages of 30 and 74, the percentage of women with very good health exceeded the men.

Towns - general health 

Malahide, Co. Dublin tops the table of people who stated that their health was either very good or good.  Generally one would equate good health with youth, however Malahide is one of our oldest population towns. Over 91 per cent stated that their health was very good or good in the top 5 towns, Malahide (92.5%), Carrigaline (92.4%), Maynooth (91.8%), Greystones (91.4%) and Celbridge (91.2%). From the five top locations, three are coastal areas.

However, the top towns where people stated that their health was bad or very bad were Longford (2.9%) and Tullamore (2.5%), Wexford (2.5%), Cavan (2.5%) and Enniscorthy (2.5%).

Very good and good health - Counties

Map 4.1 shows the percentage of persons with good and very good health, in each administrative county, confirming that general health was best in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at 89.9 per cent, Meath at 89.6 per cent and Kildare and Cork County at 89.5 per cent. Dublin City, Cork City and Longford had the lowest population who stated that their health was very good or good at 82.8 per cent, 83.6 per cent and 85.3 per cent respectively.

Interactive table: StatBank Link E9076

Health and social class

Figure 4.3 illustrates the relationship between social class and general health, and shows that as in 2011, people in the higher social classes enjoyed better health. While 96 per cent of professional workers (excluding not stated) enjoyed good or very good health this proportion fell across the social groups to just over 83 per cent for the unskilled workers. Meanwhile, the proportion of those with bad or very bad health increased with lower social class with 2.6 per cent indicating bad or very bad health for the unskilled workers compared with only 0.5 per cent of professional workers. For non-manual workers who accounted for 17.6 per cent of the total population with 837,145 people, 92.5 per cent had good or very good health, while just 1.0 per cent had bad or very bad health.

Interactive table: StatBank Link E9080

Under and over 50

Figure 4.4 & 4.5 illustrates general health in the under and over 50 age groups in each social class. High levels of good health are apparent in the under 50s, declining through the social groups. This general decline in health was mirrored in those aged 50 and over, where Professional workers had the best reported general health with 88.1 per cent having good or very good health (excluding not stated), compared with 69.7 per cent for unskilled workers.

Family life and good health

The results of Census 2016 show that there was a significant difference between the general health level of people living alone compared with those in family households. Figure 4.6 shows 39.5 per cent of persons aged 50 and over and living in family households had very good health compared with 27.2 per cent for those living alone.

Interactive table: StatBank Link E9089

Map 4.2 General health - Bad and Very Bad - by Electoral Division, 2016

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