Pre-school (0-4 years)

There were 331,515 pre-school children aged 0-4 in April 2016, a fall of 7 per cent since 2011.

Map 4.1 shows the change in the pre-school population by county since 2016. The largest increase was seen in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at 5 per cent, followed by Cork City (4.4%) and Dublin City (1.4%), while other counties recorded falls in this age cohort, noticeably Donegal where the number of pre-school children fell by 15.3 per cent, and both Laois and Waterford where the numbers fell by 11.9 per cent.

Interactive table: StatBank Link E3003

Accommodation for 0-4 year olds

The change in the type of accommodation for pre-school children in private households between 2011 and 2016 is presented in Table 4.1, while the change in tenure since 2002 is illustrated in Figure 4.1. While detached houses remains the most popular dwelling type overall, the number of pre-school children living in flats or apartments increased by 24.3 per cent over the five years rising from 25,647 in 2011 to 31,891 in 2016. Almost 2 in 5 (38.5%) children in this age group were living in rented accommodation in 2016, a significant rise on the 2002 figure of 22.3 per cent. 

Primary (5-12 years) 

Census 2016 shows the population of the primary school age group (5-12) stood at 548,693, an increase of 8.8 per cent since 2011.  

The percentage change in the primary school population by county is shown in Map 4.2 and, as can be seen, it increased in all administrative counties. Fingal saw the largest increase rising by 19 per cent (6,273) to 39,349, followed Meath which rose by 14.4 per cent to 27,198 and Laois which saw an increase of 13.6 per cent to 11,591.

The smallest increase was recorded in Mayo where the population of primary school children rose by just 36 children, (0.2%) from 14,531 in 2011 to 14,567 in 2016.

Accommodation for 5-12 year olds

Table 4.2 again highlights the increase in the number of young children living in flats or apartments since 2011 with the number rising from 18,262 to 29,689 an increase of 62.6 per cent. Children living in flats and apartments account for 5.4 per cent of the total of 5-12 year olds in private households in 2016. 

 

Renting households, 5-12 year olds

Almost a third (30.7%) of primary school children were living in rented accommodation in 2016, up from 28.7 per cent five years earlier, accounting for 168,878 children. 

Interactive table: StatBank Link E3015

 

Secondary (13-18 years)

There were 371,588 children of secondary school age in April 2016, an increase of 7.7 per cent (26,657) since 2011.  

Figure 4.3 shows the proportion of teenagers in this age group who lived in rented accommodation between 2002 and 2016. While the proportion is less than for the younger children the steady increase over time is clearly evident with 25.8 per cent of teenagers in this category in 2016 compared with 14.4 per cent back in 2002.

3.9 per cent of teenagers usually resident in this age group were living in apartments/flats in 2016, up from 2.9 per cent in 2011.

County by county, for 13-18 year olds  

The change in the secondary school population by county since 2016 is shown in Map 4.3. The greatest actual increase in this age group was in Fingal, Cork County, Kildare and Meath. Percentage wise the highest increases were again in Fingal (20.1%), Meath (18.1%), Laois (17.6%), Kildare (16.7%) and Louth (16.7%).

Cork City was the only administrative county to show a decline in this age cohort, falling by 5.1 per cent (402) over the five years. 

 

Young adults (19-24 years)

The population of young adults aged 19-24 stood at 331,208 in 2016, a fall of 6.5 per cent since 2011, primarily due to the cohort effect of low births in the early 1990s.

Map 4.4 shows the change in the population of young adults by county since 2016. The population increased in only three administrative counties namely Cork City (5.5%), Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown (2.1%) and Galway City (1.8%) while the largest falls in this age cohort were seen in Donegal with a fall of 16.2 per cent, followed by Sligo with a fall of 15.9 per cent. Internal migration among this young, mainly student, population would contribute to these changes. 

Adults (25-64 years) 

Table 4.3 illustrates the actual and percentage change in the population of adults living in private households by area type since 2011. This shows that the population of this age group increased by the greatest numbers in cities with 37,160 more adults than in 2011. However, this was closely followed by large towns with an increase of over 17,325. Towns 1,500 to 1,999 show the highest percentage increase at 8.7 per cent increase.

 

Interactive table: StatBank Link E3014

Older people (65+ years)

The population aged 65 years and over increased by 102,174 to 637,567 (19.1%) in 2016. Map 4.5 shows how the largest increases in persons aged 65 and over were concentrated in Fingal (36.1%), South Dublin (34.1%), Kildare (32.2%) and Meath (27.4%). While the smallest increases were in Dublin City with the population aged 65 years and over increasing by just 8.8 per cent and Cork City (9.9%).

Living alone

Of the total population aged 65 years and over 156,799 lived alone representing 26.7% of the total. This is slightly down on the 2011 figure of 27.7 per cent.

Figure 4.4 illustrates how the number of males living alone increased at a faster rate than the number of females living alone. Overall the number of males aged 65+ and living alone increased by 21.1 per cent from 48,840 in 2011 to 59,163 in 2016 whereas the number of females increased by 11.6 per cent over the same period (87,455 in 2011 to 97,636 in 2016).

Interactive table: StatBank Link E3007

Nursing homes and hospitals  

In Census 2016, 94.7 per cent of usually resident persons aged 65 years and older, 577,171, were enumerated in private households up from 94.0 per cent in 2011. Among those aged 85 and over, 78.3 per cent of the total were living in private households, also up from the 2011 rate of 76.2 per cent.

However even though a smaller proportion of those aged 65 and older were enumerated in communal establishments, the number of usual residents aged 65 years and older enumerated in nursing homes actually rose by 9.4 per cent to 22,762 persons in 2016. The breakdown of males and females aged 65 and over by type of communal establishments and single year of age can be seen in Figure 4.5.

Even though the absolute numbers of persons aged 65 and over in nursing homes increased, the proportion of the population decreased from 4.1 per cent in 2011 to 3.7 per cent in 2016. As displayed in figure 4.6, a higher proportion of women aged 80 - 100 years were living in communal establishments (16.8%) compared to men (10.7%). However these rates are down from 18.7 per cent for women in 2011 and 11.7 per cent for men in 2011.

Interactive table: StatBank Link E3008