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General Health

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Very healthy

There was no change in the question on general health between 2011 and 2016. In 2011, 88.3 per cent of the population felt they had good or very good health, this fell slightly to 87 per cent in 2016. Looking at health over a lifespan, almost 4 in 5 of the 15-19 age group (79%) felt they had very good health, by 40-44 years this had fallen to 58.6 per cent and by 65-69 years was down to 31.3 per cent. In those aged 85 years and over, just under 1 in 10 (9.6%) perceived they had very good health.

In the State overall, 59.5 per cent of men felt their health was very good, compared with 59.3 per cent of women. The percentage of men with very good health was higher than women in those aged 15-29 and 75+, but between the ages of 30 and 74, the percentage of women with very good health exceeded the men.

Not stated - FemalesBad and very bad - FemalesFair - FemalesGood - FemalesVery good - FemalesNot stated - MalesBad and very bad - MalesFair - MalesGood - MalesVery good - Males
85+5.351403591576210.65785629200141.264918077000933.95590317578058.76991886364147-4.73072586939554-9.31835920561963-37.2691006851097-37.41652935565-11.2652848842251
80-843.867716672847457.3514975676795933.221352064745541.068039527933514.4913941667939-3.28730537561086-6.75644959654506-31.1541084214115-42.4593703829981-16.3427662234345
75-793.199674001629995.5126324368378226.446617766911245.04156479217619.799511002445-2.9140565811113-5.26451946708058-25.740525158453-45.1798880204002-20.9010107729549
70-743.063875028693623.914414468835720.708943953800245.734617196844326.5781493518261-2.8829826039924-4.16850102514434-21.4789751072314-45.3465994138439-26.122941849788
65-692.688308633262763.3018113385085917.130087038343944.49494236650232.3848506233827-2.58191137660655-3.72805137146178-19.478663503587-44.0801821628986-30.131191585446
60-642.373541503686813.1957922069275515.482947452520840.85870270810138.0890161287638-2.51478542182682-3.87959359045645-17.235336736929-40.9383477396418-35.4319365111459
55-592.564516602565982.7979213763541912.450456533865737.48862335222144.6984821349931-2.88962930867038-3.01364132140029-13.0474084477581-38.8045540796964-42.2447668424749
50-542.154584341200742.227084884954829.9180743855578934.495758718190451.2044976700962-2.53150891965563-2.1766118802796-9.99851563975926-36.4484657112784-48.8448978490271
45-492.499908136643681.627206251607618.0331442989601132.114204524576555.7255367882121-3.03640740922714-1.57839139193239-7.99513585220852-34.1878347172407-53.2022306293912
40-442.158597161875341.229039104779476.6780384269188530.367600484503759.5667248219227-2.77267553892789-1.18209170507432-6.40966407861079-32.0286000833887-57.6069685939983
35-392.873835544622330.9275315562366425.3413719401540528.669294672742762.1879662862443-3.77973775811981-0.840116202988825-5.12915805176791-29.8531759533094-60.397812033814
30-342.750587936185090.6869848937477494.4052840102544528.598593190533763.558549969279-3.77701684384365-0.636913251606719-4.38679054619787-27.9468064834651-63.2524728748867
25-294.606702449856450.5229513904857013.7986242962164926.186330996695464.8853908667459-5.68646623789784-0.495104047596094-3.58141328448858-24.0493864565975-66.18762997342
20-242.992973274924290.4226325228589073.5008673154382223.07794078734670.0055860994326-3.46988021863007-0.407750901267589-3.00689033608559-20.3134085358763-72.8020700081405
15-192.95589150012170.346161127187172.3453768558833916.688752467750277.6638180490575-3.06633614790714-0.259508869780773-1.94502543445142-14.467296718052-80.2618328298087
10-142.960960422298810.1627182923548031.0948250458045610.904688080564884.8768081589771-2.90736818910747-0.163424696103515-1.23884488731653-12.0677202560932-83.6226419713793
5-93.371799805848670.1453262948687760.95754519188240610.658218977431384.8671097299688-3.2925552432909-0.185705626274315-1.32969636854577-12.2273654047501-82.9646773571389
0-46.42646986104930.1668891855807740.85113484646194910.790313009939281.7651930969688-6.25519203916786-0.215046161278729-1.1683192816869-11.9518532265762-80.4095892912903

Towns - general health 

Malahide, Co. Dublin tops the table of people who stated that their health was either very good or good.  Generally one would equate good health with youth, however Malahide is one of our oldest population towns. Over 91 per cent stated that their health was very good or good in the top 5 towns, Malahide (92.5%), Carrigaline (92.4%), Maynooth (91.8%), Greystones (91.4%) and Celbridge (91.2%). From the five top locations, three are coastal areas.

However, the top towns where people stated that their health was bad or very bad were Longford (2.9%) and Tullamore (2.5%), Wexford (2.5%), Cavan (2.5%) and Enniscorthy (2.5%).

Not statedBad or Very BadFairGoodVery Good
Malahide301138810373611565
Carrigaline205148849388510683
Maynooth26911781337759611
Greystones3551951011424812331
Celbridge4182091158532713176
State1585147643538290513164672827544
Longford369288111331905048
Tullamore782370131041807965
Wexford6424982102584711099
Cavan524268109631545872
Enniscorthy319279122734006156

Very good and good health - Counties

Map 4.1 shows the percentage of persons with good and very good health, in each administrative county, confirming that general health was best in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at 89.9 per cent, Meath at 89.6 per cent and Kildare and Cork County at 89.5 per cent. Dublin City, Cork City and Longford had the lowest population who stated that their health was very good or good at 82.8 per cent, 83.6 per cent and 85.3 per cent respectively.

Interactive table: StatBank Link E9076

Health and social class

Figure 4.3 illustrates the relationship between social class and general health, and shows that as in 2011, people in the higher social classes enjoyed better health. While 96 per cent of professional workers (excluding not stated) enjoyed good or very good health this proportion fell across the social groups to just over 83 per cent for the unskilled workers. Meanwhile, the proportion of those with bad or very bad health increased with lower social class with 2.6 per cent indicating bad or very bad health for the unskilled workers compared with only 0.5 per cent of professional workers. For non-manual workers who accounted for 17.6 per cent of the total population with 837,145 people, 92.5 per cent had good or very good health, while just 1.0 per cent had bad or very bad health.

Very badBadFairGoodVery good
Professional workers36416281333175815291687
Managerial and technical1686793463515310056939200
Non-manual1312707453954236264528149
Skilled manual1614827559470217226375538
Semi-skilled1183625545322169485271812
Unskilled7363700238866395375568
Other684327831123427243668345590

Interactive table: StatBank Link E9080

Under and over 50

Figure 4.4 & 4.5 illustrates general health in the under and over 50 age groups in each social class. High levels of good health are apparent in the under 50s, declining through the social groups. This general decline in health was mirrored in those aged 50 and over, where Professional workers had the best reported general health with 88.1 per cent having good or very good health (excluding not stated), compared with 69.7 per cent for unskilled workers.

Social ClassVery badBadFairGoodVery good
Professional workers135482504845709250429
Managerial and technical456236821934171742774440
Non-manual324201619011132262425939
Skilled manual347212218459118923301853
Semi-skilled27717461549097364217746
Unskilled10168456083145657691
All other gainfully occupied and unknown1780785537827134895292929
Social ClassVery badBadFairGoodVery good
Professional workers229114682833010641258
Managerial and technical1230556641581138314164760
Non-manual988505834943104002102210
Skilled manual12676153410119830373685
Semi-skilled9064509298327212154066
Unskilled6353016182783249717877
All other gainfully occupied and unknown5063199768560010877352661

Family life and good health

The results of Census 2016 show that there was a significant difference between the general health level of people living alone compared with those in family households. Figure 4.6 shows 39.5 per cent of persons aged 50 and over and living in family households had very good health compared with 27.2 per cent for those living alone.

Very badBadFairGoodVery good
Living alone2097105856534311059970370
Family households596727003158977420395399604

Interactive table: StatBank Link E9089

Map 4.2 General health - Bad and Very Bad - by Electoral Division, 2016

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