Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2017

Private Health Insurance coverage decreased from 48.5% in 2004 to 39.7% in 2013 and increased again to 43.3% in 2017. This contrasts with medical/GP visit card coverage over the same period which increased from 30.5% in 2004 to 45.4% in 2012 and which stood at 45.1% in 2017.

In 2017, 32.3% of households where at least one person had a medical examination or treatment in the last 12 months reported that the associated costs were a financial burden.  The corresponding rates of households reporting that the associated costs were a financial burden were 27.4% for dental examinations or treatments in the last 12 months and 34.9% for medicines in the last 12 months. For households without children, the rates were 30.5% for medical examinations or treatment, 23.8% for dental examinations or treatment and 35.6% for medicines. This contrasts with households with children where the corresponding rates were 35.3% for medical examinations or treatment, 32.5% for dental examinations or treatment and 33.8% for medicines.

In 2017, 75.1% of those at risk of poverty and 88.8% of those in consistent poverty had a medical/GP visit card.

In 2017, 83.0% of all those aged 16 years and over defined their own health status as either “Good” or “Very Good”. The corresponding rates for those with a medical/GP visit card and those without a medical/GP visit card were 68.9% and 92.9% respectively.   In 2017, 3.4% of all those aged 16 years and over defined their own health status as either “Bad” or “Very Bad”.  The corresponding rates were 7.1% for those with a medical/GP visit card and 0.8% for those without a medical/GP visit card.

In 2017, 24.4% of all those aged 16 years and over had no visits to a GP in the last 12 months. The corresponding rates for those with a medical/GP visit card and those without a Medical/GP visit card were 14.0% and 31.7% respectively. In 2017, 8.0% of all those aged 16 years and over have attended a GP ten times or more in the last 12 months compared with 15.5% of those who have a medical/GP visit card and 2.7% of those without a medical/GP visit card.

In 2017, 68.3% of those aged 16 years and over required no medical and/or surgical consultation in the past 12 months. Of those aged 16 years and over with a medical/GP visit card, 13.3% had three or more medical/surgical consultations in the past 12 months.   This contrasts with 7.8% of those without a medical/GP visit card.

In 2017, 80.7% of individuals aged 16 years and over who were at risk of poverty reported consuming at least one item of fruit, vegetables or salad daily compared with 89.0% of those who were not at risk of poverty. While 2.0% of all individuals aged 16 years and over consume one item of fruit, vegetables or salad less than weekly, the corresponding rates were 3.9% for those who are at risk of poverty and 1.6% for those who were not at risk of poverty.

In 2017, approximately two in five (38.1%) of those aged 16 years or older who are working reported that they spend most of their time at work sitting. This compared with less than one in three (31.6%) who reported that they were mostly walking, or engaged in tasks requiring moderate physical effort while 19.9% reported that most of their time at work is spent standing. Lastly, just over one in ten (10.4%) reported that their time at work is spent doing mostly heavy labour or physically demanding work. 

In 2017, 12.0% of those who spend their time at work “mostly sitting” reported doing no exercise outside of work in a week, while approximately one in three reported that they do either up to 3 hours of exercise (29.5%) or more than 3 and up to 6 hours of exercise (30.3%) outside of work per week. Just over one in eight (12.8%) of those who spend their time at work "mostly sitting" reported doing more than 6 and up to 9 hours of exercise in a week, while a further 8.9% reported doing more than 9 and up to 12 hours of exercise per week. Only 4.9% of those who spend their time at work “mostly sitting” reported doing more than 12 hours of exercise per week outside of work.

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