A Profile of COVID-19 in Ireland - Using Census 2016 Household Data to Analyse COVID-19 Waves, March 2020 - May 2021

Households & Housing

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Households

The 178,620 confirmed COVID-19 cases which were matched to the CSO’s pseudonymised Census of Population Analysis (COPA) 2016 data lived in 117,657 households. This is an average of 1.52 confirmed cases per household in the sample.

The average number of persons per household affected by COVID-19 increased across the waves, rising from 3.7 in wave 1 to 4.6 in wave 3.

The percentage of cases in single persons rose between wave 1 and wave 3, from 44% to 47%, while other marital statuses remained consistent.

There was a drop in cases among married or cohabiting couples with children from 54% in wave 1 to 49% in wave 3, while there was a rise among married or cohabiting couples without children from 13% in wave 1 to 25% in wave 3.

Over 80% of cases in each wave were Irish nationals. The proportion of cases which were Asian or Asian Irish fell from 5% in wave 1 to 2% in waves 2 and 3. There was a slight increase in the percentage of matched cases who were Black or Black Irish – African from 2% in wave 1 to 3% in wave 2 before a fall to 1% in wave 3. Other ethnicities remained consistent across the waves.

Irish nationality was consistent across all three waves, at 88% in wave 1 and 89% in waves 2 and 3. Non-EU/UK nationality accounted for 2% of cases in wave 1 compared with 1% in other waves.

The vast majority (85%) of cases were born in Ireland, while 6% were born in the UK and 5% were born in the EU-East.

Housing

Private houses made up 96% of the sample while the balance of 4% were communal establishments on Census night 2016.
- In wave 3, 43% of private households were detached houses, 31% were semi-detached while 17% were terraced. These proportions were consistent across the other waves.

For nature of occupancy, there has been an increase in the percentage of cases related to households that owned with mortgage or loan from 40% in wave 1 to 44% in wave 2, while 26% of cases in all waves were renting in April 2016.

Of those households who were renting, the most common landlord type was a private landlord followed by local authority and 4% of households in the COVID-19 sample across all waves stated they were renting from a voluntary/co-operative housing body.

In households with a confirmed COVID-19 case, 19% were in overcrowded homes in wave 1 compared to 14% of cases in wave 2 and 8% of cases in wave 3, defined as over 1 person per room compared to the general population where 1 in 10 people live in overcrowded houses.

Ethnicity	White Irish	White Irish Traveller	Any other white background	Black or black Irish - African	Black or black Irish - Any other black background	Asian or Asian Irish - Chinese	Asian or Asian Irish - Any other Asian Background	Other incl. mixed background	Not stated
Wave 1	80	2	7	2	0.2	0.1	5	1	3
Wave 2	85	2	6	3	0.1	0.1	2	1	1
Wave 3	86	2	7	1	0.1	0.2	2	1	1

Nature of Occupancy	Own with mortgage or loan	Owner occupied without loan / mortgage	Rent	Live rent free	Not stated
Wave 1	40	32	26	1	1
Wave 2	45	27	26	1	1
Wave 3	44	28	26	1	1

Table 2.1 COVID-19 sample by average number of persons per household as of April 2016
	% COVID sample
Number of persons per household	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
Average number of persons per household	3.7	3.1	4.6	2.8
Source: CSO

Table 2.2 COVID-19 sample and general population by marital status as of April 2016 ¹
	% COVID sample
Marital Status	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
Single	44.1	49.5	46.7	41.0
Married (first marriage)	43.3	41.1	43.1	46.0
Remarried	2.1	1.2	1.1	2.0
In a registered same-sex civil partnership	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Separated	2.8	2.9	3.0	3.0
Divorced	1.9	2.2	2.1	3.0
Widowed	5.8	3.1	4.0	5.0
¹ includes population aged 15 years and over
Source: CSO

Table 2.3 COVID-19 sample and general population by household composition as of April 2016
	% COVID sample
Household Composition	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
Married or cohabiting couple with children	54.0	58.3	49.4	35.0
Married or cohabiting couple without children	13.2	16.4	24.9	19.0
Lone parents with children	11.7	15.2	12.8	10.0
Other ¹	21.1	10.1	12.9	36.0
Source: CSO
¹ Other includes households with one person, related and unrelated households

Table 2.4 COVID-19 sample and general population by ethnicity, nationality and country of birth as of April 2016
	% COVID sample
Ethnicity	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
White Irish	80.1	85.0	85.8	82.1
White Irish Traveller	2.1	2.2	1.9	0.7
Any other white background	6.8	5.8	6.9	9.5
Black or Black Irish - African	2.1	2.8	1.1	1.2
Black or black Irish - Any other black background	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1
Asian or Asian Irish - Chinese	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.4
Asian or Asian Irish - Any other Asian Background	5.0	2.1	2.0	1.8
Other incl. mixed background	1.1	1.0	1.0	1.6
Not stated	2.5	0.9	1.0	2.6
	% COVID sample
Nationality	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
Irish	88.2	89.0	89.0	87.1
UK	2.1	1.2	2.0	6.0
EU-West	1.0	1.9	1.1	2.0
EU-East	3.5	4.0	3.9	2.2
Non-EU/UK	2.0	1.2	1.0	1.1
Not stated	3.2	2.7	3.0	1.6
	% COVID sample
Country of Birth	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
Irish	85.1	86.0	85.0	85.3
UK	5.2	5.8	6.0	6.1
EU-West	1.0	0.9	1.0	2.0
EU-East	5.0	4.0	4.8	3.1
Non-EU/UK	0.8	0.3	0.2	2.0
Not stated	2.9	3.0	3.0	1.5
Source: CSO

Table 2.5 - COVID-19 sample and general population by household type as of April 2016
	% COVID sample
Private Household Type	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
Detached house	42.1	45.2	43.5	45.0
Semi-detached house	30.8	31.2	30.9	29.0
Terraced house	17.1	15.8	16.6	16.0
Flat or apartment in a purpose-built block	8.0	5.9	7.2	8.0
Flat or apartment in a converted house or commercial building	1.0	0.9	0.9	1.0
Bedsit	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Caravan, mobile or other temporary structure	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Not stated	1.0	1.0	0.9	1.0
Source: CSO

Table 2.6 COVID-19 sample and general population by nature of occupancy as of April 2016
	% COVID sample
Nature of Occupancy	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
Own with mortgage or loan	39.8	45.3	43.6	39.0
Owner occupied without loan / mortgage	32.1	26.7	28.4	30.0
Rent	26.2	26.0	25.8	27.0
Live rent free	0.9	1.0	0.8	1.0
Not stated	1.0	1.0	1.0	3.0
Source: CSO

Table 2.7 COVID-19 sample and general population by landlord type as of April 2016
	% COVID sample
Landlord Type	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
Private landlord	62.1	56.9	58.3	66.0
Local authority	33.8	39.3	37.8	30.0
Voluntary / Co-operative housing body	3.9	3.8	3.9	4.0
Source: CSO

Table 2.8 COVID-19 sample and general population by number of persons per room as of April 2016
	% COVID sample
Number of persons per room	Wave 1	Wave 2	Wave 3	% Census 2016 population
Under 1 person per room	75.1	78.7	84.3	83.0
One or more person per room	18.8	14.2	8.0	9.0
Not stated	6.1	7.1	7.7	8.0
Source: CSO