The Irish Health Survey is a voluntary, annual survey that aims to give an accurate measurement of the health of people in Ireland
The Irish Health Survey is a voluntary, annual survey that aims to give an accurate measurement of the health of people in Ireland. The facts we get directly from you through the Irish Health Survey are used to create policy, inform how existing funding should be allocated, and provide health services where and when they’re needed most. Individuals, non-governmental organisations and charities, local authorities, and national government all use the health statistics we produce to inform these decisions.
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 survey includes questions on various health topics, including:
The Irish Health Survey will be conducted annually. Participants will be randomly selected each year and you may be randomly selected to participate again in future years.
It is impossible to ask everyone in the country to take part, so the CSO selects people randomly from the population using a statistical method. You represent others who have not been selected, which is why it is so important that you take part.
Previously, the Irish Health Survey only gathered data about the health of those aged 15 years and over. A short questionnaire has now been included to ask questions relevant to children’s health. The facts we get directly from you about your child’s health, will provide essential data on the health of children in Ireland and help policy makers when making decisions that impact the lives of children and young people in Ireland.
It is not compulsory to take part, but participation is encouraged. If you choose not to participate, we cannot select someone else to take your place. We need as many people as possible to take part to ensure the data that is collected represents the health of everyone in Ireland.
It is not possible to survey every person in the population. That is why we randomly select people from the population who represent others who have not been selected. We cannot accept volunteers, as we could not guarantee that the resulting data would represent the whole population of Ireland.
Don’t worry if you cannot do the survey online. To discuss other ways to complete the survey you can call us at 021 453 5110 or email us at CSOTakePart@cso.ie.
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 your or your child’s name and your specific address. We use broad information such as the general area where you live, e.g., Dublin, sex, age, 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.
No, this survey is designed so that information cannot be traced back to you. All individual information obtained by the CSO is treated as strictly confidential.
The CSO collects contact details from a wide range of sources, both from social surveys and statistical data sources made available to us under the Statistics Act, 1993. All data collected and used by the CSO is stored securely and is only used for the purpose of producing national and international statistics.
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 Irish Health Survey. We will broadly outline the characteristics of the people who responded and their health indicators. 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.
If you have any questions about the survey, you can call us at 021 453 5110 or email us at CSOTakePart@cso.ie. You can also find more information about the survey on the CSO website https://link.cso.ie/ihs or on our social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook or X (Twitter).
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.