Irish Health Survey 2019 - Main Results

At State level, 85% of persons aged 15 years and over reported their health status as being Very good or good, with little or no difference between males and females in how they view their health. Unsurprisingly, older people report higher levels of poor health than younger people, with 10% of persons over 75 years reporting their health status as Bad or very bad compared to only 1% of persons aged 15-24 years. See Table 2.1.

Non-Irish nationals report higher positive and lower negative health status than Irish nationals, with 90% of non-Irish nationals aged 15 years and over reporting their health as Very good or good compared to 84% of Irish nationals. Correspondingly, 2% of non-Irish nationals aged 15 years and over report that their health status was Bad or very bad compared to 4% of Irish nationals. See Table 2.1.

At a regional level, persons aged 15 years and over in the South East region reported the highest positive health levels (88% reporting Very good or good), with the Midland region reporting the lowest levels of positive health levels (79% reporting Very good or good). See Table 2.1.

Those in employment report higher positive levels of health than those who are unemployed, 93% of those in employment report their health as being Very good or good compared to 82% of those who are unemployed. See Table 2.1.

As to be expected perhaps, limitations increase with age – 15% of 75 years and over report severe limitations in everyday activities compared to only 2% of 15-24 year olds. Irish nationals report higher levels of Severely limited or Limited but not severely regarding everyday activities (19% combined) as compared to non-Irish nationals (12%). At a regional level, the Midlands report the highest levels of severe limitations at 7% of the 15 years and over population in that region. In contrast, Dublin reports the lowest levels of severe limitations at 3% of the 15 years and over population in that region. While around three-quarters (76%) of Unemployed persons report no limitations in everyday activities due to a health problem, much more Employed persons (92%) report no such limitation. See Table 2.3.

The prevalence of Lower back disorder or other chronic back defects rises sharply with age, with 18% of persons over 75 years reporting this condition as opposed to 6% of 35-44 year olds. See Table 2.4.

Older persons also suffer more than younger people from conditions like Chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and emphysema. Levels of Diabetes show differences by level of disadvantage – more than twice as many persons who are Very disadvantaged (5%) report having Diabetes than Very affluent persons (2%). See Table 2.4.

At State level, 86% of persons aged 15 years and over report having None to minimal depression. More Very affluent persons aged 15 years and over report having None to minimal depression than those in the Very disadvantaged cohorts of persons (89% compared to 82%). Females report lower (84%) levels of None to minimal depression than males (89%). There is little difference in the reported mental health experience of Irish nationals (86% reporting for None to minimal depression) compared to non-Irish nationals (87% reporting for None to minimal depression). See Table 2.5.

At a regional level, the South-West reports the highest levels of some form of depression (Mild to severe) at 18% of persons aged 15 years and over. The West region reports the lowest levels of some form of depression at 10%, a full 8 percentage points lower than the South-West region. See Table 2.5.

Interestingly, the youngest (15-24 years) and the oldest (75 years and over) age groups report the lowest levels of None to minimal depression (84% for 15-24 year olds and 83% for 75 years and over), but it should be noted that the differences between the age groups are relatively small. See Table 2.5.

More females (21%) than males (19%) reported being absent from work due to a health related problem. Females record more Average number of days absent – 5.2 number of days compared to 3.3 number of days for men. See Table 2.6.

For age groups less than 65 years, the 45-54 years age group report the lowest number of absences at 17% of this age group, while the 15-24 years age group reports the highest at almost a quarter (23%) of this age group. However, the 15-24 years age group report the lowest Average number of days absent at 2 days, compared to 3.1 days absent for the 45-54 age group, with the 55-64 years age group reporting the highest Average number of days absent at 5.6 days. See Table 2.6.

Non-Irish nationals report marginally higher levels of absences than Irish nationals (21% compared to 20%), but lower average number of days absent (3.7 days compared to 4.2 days). People in Dublin report the highest absence levels at 26% of persons aged 15 years and over, compared to people in the Border region who report the lowest absence levels of 12%. See Table 2.6.