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Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is the national longitudinal study of children and young people.
This important survey gathers data on the issues facing children and young people today.
Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is the national longitudinal study of children that was established by the Irish Government in 2006. It is funded by the Department of Children, Disability, and Equality (DCDE). The survey was first carried out by researchers led by Trinity College Dublin and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Since 2023 the survey has been managed and overseen by DCDE and the Central Statistics Office (CSO). GUI was established to provide evidence for the creation of effective and responsive policies and services for children and families in Ireland. We study the lives of children in Ireland, to understand the factors that help or hinder development, and importantly, get children’s views and opinions on their lives as they grow up. It is a study of children, with children, for children.
The CSO is Ireland’s national statistics office, and our purpose is to impartially gather, analyse, and publish statistics and insights about Ireland, our people, our society, and our economy. We gather and collect data under the Statistics Act, 1993 to provide official statistics that are independently produced and verified and can be used to inform decision making across all aspects of our society. The CSO conducts household and business surveys throughout the year, as well as the census, and no individual, household, or enterprise can be identified from the data we publish. The CSO has been trusted for 75 years and counting to provide accurate and verifiable statistics about Irish life and society. Protecting data confidentiality is at the heart of everything we do. You can learn more about why you trust the CSO on the Trust & Transparency section of our website.
The GUI team had previously conducted surveys with young people and their families at different ages – a group of children who were aged nine in 2007/2008 (Cohort ‘98), and a group of children who were aged nine months in 2008/2009 (Cohort ‘08). In 2024, a new baby cohort, Cohort ’24, was launched because it had been 16 years since a new baby cohort was added to GUI. During this time Ireland experienced significant social, economic, and policy changes. GUI Cohort '24 provides essential data on the extent to which these changes affect child development, inform the creation of responsive, child-focused policies, and inform the potential delivery of services for children and their families in Ireland. The first round of the GUI Cohort ’24 survey has now concluded.
Parents/Guardians of Cohort ’24 were first interviewed when their child was nine months old. We will be returning to this cohort when they are three years old.
By taking part in the Growing Up in Ireland survey, you will be helping to shape the future for children in Ireland. One of the overarching aims of GUI is to provide evidence, through the data that are collected, for the creation of effective and responsive policies and services for children and their families. These policies and services can relate to a wide range of issues, including healthcare, childcare, education and parental support services.
To date, data collected through Growing Up in Ireland have been used to inform a wide range of strategy and policy reports for a number of Government departments and state organisations:
By participating, you are contributing to valuable research that will benefit children, families, and communities across Ireland. Through this survey, you can be the voice for their future.
The GUI survey consults a large number of stakeholders to consider the questions that are relevant to understanding how children and young people develop as they grow older. GUI draws from many skills and areas of expertise to consider how a child grows up. In early childhood, the questions will focus on family background, health, the neighbourhood, and the economic context the child is growing up in. As the child grows up and finds their own voice, the questions will begin to cover their social and emotional development, education, as well as their own thoughts and feelings.
Please email any updates to your details to CSOTakePart@cso.ie including your full name, address, and date of birth.
Confidentiality is a core value of the CSO. All CSO staff are designated as Officers of Statistics under Section 20(a) of the Statistics Act, 1993. This means every staff member is legally bound to uphold the confidentiality of the data they have access to. The CSO does not share any identifiable personal data with any third party. Your data and confidentiality are protected by law. In limited cases, data is shared with approved researchers under strict conditions in a way where identities are protected. We only use your data for statistical purposes. That means we remove all identifying information such as the child’s name and your specific address. We use broad information such as the general area where you live e.g., Dublin, child’s sex, and then group up (aggregate) this data so nobody is identifiable from the data provided.
As well as the strict legal protections in the Statistics Act, 1993, the CSO must ensure compliance with the data protection requirements in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act, 2018. The Data Protection Transparency Notice for the survey can be accessed on our website.
The CSO will publish the results on our website and on our social media channels. We will use percentages and trends to tell the story behind the GUI survey. We will outline in broad terms the type of families who responded and, as the children grow up and we collect more data, the different ways in which they are developing.
Under the Statistics Act, 1993, CSO may grant access to non-aggregated data files under strict conditions, for scientific and statistical purposes only. Registered researchers can therefore access these files to undertake academic and policy-related research which is then published at aggregate level.
Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) aligns closely with national policy, First 5, the flagship strategy for early years. First 5 is described as a “whole-of-government strategy to improve the lives of babies, young children and their families”.
The key areas of interest or ‘domains’ associated with child development include topics such as physical health, socio-emotional and behavioural well-being, education, housing, access to amenities, access to parental entitlements and support services, and barriers to service utilisation.
GUI is a joint project between the Department for Children, Disability and Equality and the Central Statistics Office (CSO). There is a clear governance protocol for the project: CSO are responsible for the GUI survey (design, data collection and processing, analysis and dissemination), while DCDE are responsible for the wider study elements including understanding stakeholder needs, promoting wider use of the data, and commissioning or undertaking policy relevant research.
In the stakeholder consultation process, DCDE organises workshops with key stakeholders to discuss GUI domains of interest for each new round of data collection. The stakeholder groups are made up of representatives from government departments, public bodies, research institutes, academics and CSO personnel amongst others. Their remit is to assist DCDE in the framing of the GUI domains of interest.
There is a breadth and depth of statistical expertise in the CSO. The design phase of the GUI survey includes repeated stakeholder consultation, substantial questionnaire testing, and strong governance. In addition, the CSO identifies best international practice, and leverages the expertise of policy stakeholders with experience in this area.
The GUI domains of interest, formalised via the stakeholder consultation process, are shared with the CSO as the foundation for the design of specific questions included in the GUI survey.
When finalising these questions, the CSO and DCDE consider:
Due to the varying domains of interest, the design and implementation of this survey requires specialist expertise and training. It involves consultation with key stakeholders and consideration of best practice from international statistical organisations regarding appropriate collection methods as well as identification of the skills, training, and structures that are required to support data gathering in this sensitive area.
GUI Cohort ’24 Wave One pilot report:
https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/population/growingupinireland/cohort24waveonepilotreport/
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.