Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Methodology

A CSO Frontier Series Output- What is this?

Open in Excel:

The results presented in this release are based primarily on a data-linking exercise of the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting (CIDR) provided to the CSO by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and the CSO's pseudonymised Census of Population 2016 Analysis data set.

The linkage and analysis were undertaken by the CSO for statistical purposes in line with the Statistics Act, 1993 and the CSO Data Protocol.

Before using personal administrative data for statistical purposes, the CSO removes all identifying personal information including the PPSN.  The CSO removes all personal data and creates a pseudonymised Protected Identifier Key (PIK). The PIK is a unique and non-identifiable number which is internal to the CSO. Using the PIK enables the CSO to link and analyse data for statistical purposes, while protecting the security and confidentiality of the individual data. All records in the matched datasets are pseudonymised and the results are in the form of statistical aggregates which do not identify any individuals.

Data Sources

Census of Population Analysis (COPA)

The COPA is a pseudonymised copy of the Census of Population 2016 dataset held internally within the CSO for analysis purposes. It contains Census attribute information for individuals and households, excluding persons records registered as guests. Approximately 5% of Census records could not be assigned a PIK and were excluded from the analysis.

Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting (CIDR)

Provided by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), this data keeps records of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ireland. CIDR is an information system developed to manage the surveillance and control of infectious diseases in Ireland. Case-based data is collected in CIDR on the notifiable infectious diseases. Enhanced surveillance data is also collected on many infectious diseases. Infectious disease outbreak data is also collected in CIDR. There are currently 84 notifiable diseases, covering areas such as:

  • vaccine-preventable diseases
  • respiratory and direct contact diseases
  • infectious intestinal diseases
  • vector borne and zoonotic diseases
  • blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections 
  • healthcare-associated infections.

The full list of notifiable diseases can be found at www.hpsc.ie

Reference Period

The demographic variables, such as place of work and household status, were collected on Census reference day, 24th April 2016.

Other Definitions

Disability 

Data on disability was derived from answers to questions 16 and 17 of the Census questionnaire.  Question 16 was a seven-part question that asked about the existence of the following long lasting conditions: (a) blindness or a serious vision impairment, (b) deafness or a severe hearing impairment, (c) a difficulty with basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying, (d) an intellectual disability (e) a difficulty with learning, remembering or concentrating, (f) a psychological or emotional condition and (g) a difficulty with pain, breathing or any other chronic illness or condition. If a person answered YES to any of the parts of Q16, they were then asked to answer Question 17. This question was a four-part question that asked whether an individual had a difficulty doing any of the following activities: (a) dressing, bathing or getting around inside the home (self-care disability); (b) going outside the home alone to shop or visit a doctor’s surgery (going outside the home disability); (c) working at a job or business or attending school or college (employment disability) and (d) participating in other activities, such as leisure or using transport. Individuals were classified as having a disability if they answered YES to any part of the above two questions, including, in particular, if they ticked YES to any of the parts of Q17 even though they may not have ticked YES to any of the parts of Q16. 

Education

In Census 2016 persons aged 15 years and over were asked what was the highest level of education (full or part time) completed to date. The levels ranged from no formal education to a tertiary post doctorate degree. 

NACE Rev.2 Classification

The economic sector classification (NACE) is based on the ‘Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Rev. 2 (2008)’ [1] which can be accessed on the Eurostat website.

Occupations

The Occupation classification used here and in Census 2016, is based on the UK Standard Occupational [2], with modifications to reflect Irish labour market conditions. 

Analysis by deprivation

By using the deprivation score developed by Trutz Haase (see https://www.pobal.ie/app/uploads/2018/06/The-2016-Pobal-HP-Deprivation-Index-Introduction-07.pdf) it is possible to analyse incidence rate by the deprivation score of the Electoral Division in which the person lived in April 2016. The results are presented by quintiles with the first quintile representing the least deprived areas and the fifth quintile representing the most deprived areas. The underlying assumption is that if a person’s usual residence is in an area assigned a particular deprivation score then that person attracts that particular score.  

Census Geography

Place of Work, School or College

As part of the Census 2016 processing programme places of work, school and college were geo-coded. All workers resident in Ireland on Census night were coded to their place of work and all Irish resident students from the age of 5 and upwards were coded to their place of school/college.