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This chapter looks at the self-reported general health of the population by age and sex and gives a profile of the unpaid help and support provided to care for people with long term health issues or problems related to old age. This chapter combines results from the censuses held in Northern Ireland in 2021 and in Ireland in 2022. It is important to note that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had an impact on results. See Background Notes for further information.
The question on general health asked people to rate their health from very good to very bad. In Figure 4.1 we can see the distribution of the population by self-reported general health.
A greater proportion of people reported their general health as good or very good in Ireland (83%) compared with Northern Ireland (79%).
One in seven (14%) people in Northern Ireland had fair general health compared with 9% of people in Ireland.
There was a higher proportion of people reporting their general health as either bad or very bad in Northern Ireland at 8%, compared with 2% in Ireland. Despite having a significantly larger population overall, 57,000 fewer people in Ireland reported having bad health.
General health showed a very similar trend across different age groups in both Ireland and Northern Ireland as seen in Figure 4.2. Overall, very good general health status decreased with age, while people with fair, bad, or very bad health increased with age.
The vast majority of children aged 0 to 14 years have very good or good health (91% in Ireland and 97% in Northern Ireland). The proportions decrease with age, with 46% of those aged 85 years and over in Ireland and 30% in Northern Ireland reporting the same.
While the proportion of each age group that reports bad or very bad health increased by age in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, the proportions increased at a greater rate in Northern Ireland.
In Ireland, the percentage of people reporting bad or very bad health increased from 1% among those aged 20 to 24 years to 4% among those aged 60 to 64 years. In Northern Ireland, the rise was steeper, from 2% to 16% across the same age groups. Among those aged 85 and over, 9% in Ireland reported poor health, compared to 25% in Northern Ireland.
In both the Ireland and Northern Ireland censuses people were asked a question to determine if they provided regular unpaid personal help or support to a family member, neighbour or friend with a long-term illness, health issue or an issue related to old age or disability. The proportion of carers in the population aged 5 years and over is displayed in Figure 4.3.
At 12%, the percentage of the total population aged 5 years and over providing regular unpaid care was higher in Northern Ireland compared with 6% in Ireland.
In both Ireland and Northern Ireland, a greater proportion of females provided unpaid care than males. In Ireland, 7% of females and 5% of males regularly provided unpaid help. In Northern Ireland, 14% of females were unpaid carers, compared with 11% of males.
Figure 4.4 shows the proportions of each age group that provide unpaid care. Northern Ireland recorded higher proportions of carers across all age groups when compared to Ireland. In both jurisdictions, proportions generally increase until late middle-age before beginning to decrease.
In both Ireland and Northern Ireland, the age group which reported the greatest proportion of people providing unpaid care were those aged 50 to 54 years at 23% in Northern Ireland and 14% in Ireland.
The percentage of female carers were higher among all age groups aside from the very oldest groups. There were more male carers among those aged 80 years and over in Ireland and 75 years and over in Northern Ireland.
A second part of the question asked carers about the number of hours they spent each week providing regular unpaid care. Figure 4.5 groups the number of hours of weekly unpaid care provided into four categories.
Almost half (49%) of carers in Ireland provided up to 19 hours of unpaid help per week compared with 45% in Northern Ireland.
Approximately 1 in 10 carers provided unpaid care for 20 to 34 hours per week, this was similar in Ireland (12%) and Northern Ireland (11%).
The proportion of total carers providing unpaid care between 35 and 49 hours was 13% in Northern Ireland, compared with 5% in Ireland.
A higher proportion of carers in Northern Ireland provided 50 or more hours of unpaid care (31%) compared with 28% in Ireland.
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