This release is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Outputs. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources.
Across all six HSE regions, the highest age group percentage of the population was 40-44-years.
Of the 1.1 million people living in the region of HSE Dublin and Midlands in 2022, 28% had a medical card and 10% had a GP visit card.
The region of HSE Dublin and South East had the highest percentage of GP visit cards at 12% of the people living there.
The region of HSE West and North West had the highest percentage of its population availing of a medical card in 2022. Of the 760,000 people living in this region, 34% had a medical card and 11% had a GP visit card.
The population profiles and the proportion of people with selected Department of Social Protection (DSP) payments were consistent for each HSE Health Region.
The statistical results published in this release are from a data matching project using the Census of Population Analysis (COPA) 2022 and from other administrative data sources. It is important to note that the percentage of medical cards, GP visit cards and the percentage of people availing of Department of Social Protection (DSP) selected payments may be understated, due to the unmatched records that would have been otherwise distributed across the HSE Health Regions. As such, these results should be treated as provisional.
The population profiles and proportion of the people with medical cards, GP visit cards and selected DSP payments was consistent for each HSE Health Region.
Table 1 shows the number of people in each HSE Health Region using Census 2022 data.
Figure 1 shows a population pyramid for each HSE Health Region using Census 2022 data. Users can toggle between the various HSE Health regions using the dropdown button.
The CSO carried out a data match between the Census 2022 and the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) 2022 data. It is important to note that this data match was carried out on a person level using unique person identifier keys (PIKs). In Figure 2 below, both the percentage of total population with medical cards and GP visit cards for each of the HSE Health Regions is shown. Comparing across HSE Health Regions, the region of HSE West and North West had the highest percentage of its total population with a medical card at 34%, while the region of HSE Dublin and South East had the highest percentage of its total population with a GP visit card at 12%.
In this analysis, the CSO also carried out a data match between the Census 2022 and Department of Social Protection (DSP) 2022 data. In Figure 3 below, the percentage of the total population availing of selected social welfare payments split by HSE Health Region are shown. For each HSE Health Region, the percentage of the total population availing of selected DSP payments was consistent.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (22 November 2024) published HSE Health Regions 2022. The six new Health Service Executive (HSE) regions were set up in March 2024. Using the Census of Population Analysis (COPA) 2022 and data matching from other administrative data sources, the CSO has produced an analysis of the demographics and health statistics for the people living in these HSE regions. The data is accurate as of 03 April 2022 (See Editor’s Note below).
Commenting on today's release, Steven Conroy, Statistician said: "The results presented here are from a data matching project, carried out by the CSO, to analyse and provide demographic and health statistics on the new HSE Health Regions, which were in place in March 2024, using Census 2022 and other administrative data sources. This release provides population pyramids showing age groups and sex for each of the six HSE Health Regions. It also calculates provisional population percentages in relation to medical cards, GP visit cards, and other selected Department of Social Protection (DSP) payments related to health outcomes for each of the HSE Health Regions. The population profiles and the proportion of people with medical cards, GP visit cards, and selected DSP payments was consistent for each HSE Health Region.
HSE Dublin and North East
This health region covers North Dublin, Meath, Louth, Cavan, and Monaghan. This region had a population of 1,187,082 people as of April 2022, with the highest age group percentage being 40–44-years for both sexes. Some 27% of its total population had a medical card and 10% had a GP visit card. The percentage of its total population availing of disability allowance was 2%, carer's allowance (1%), invalidity pension (1%), and illness benefit was 2%.
HSE Dublin and Midlands
This health region covers Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois, Kildare, West Wicklow and parts of Dublin South. This region had a population of 1,077,639 people as of April 2022, with the highest age group percentage being 40–44-years for both sexes. Some 28% of its total population had a medical card and 10% had a GP visit card. The percentage of its total population availing of disability allowance was 3%, carer's allowance (2%), invalidity pension (1%), and illness benefit was 2%.
HSE Dublin and South East
This health region covers Tipperary South, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Wicklow, and parts of Dublin South. It had a population of 971,093 people as of April 2022, with the highest age group percentage being 40-44-years for both sexes. Some 27% of its total population had a medical card and 10% had a GP visit card. The percentage of its total population availing of disability allowance was 3%, carer's allowance (2%), invalidity pension (1%), and illness benefit was 2%.
HSE South West
This health region covers Kerry and Cork. It had a population of 740,614 people as of April 2022, with the highest age group percentage being 40-44-years for both sexes. Some 28% of its total population had a medical card and 11% had a GP visit card. The percentage of its total population availing of disability allowance was 3%, carer's allowance (2%), invalidity pension (1%), and illness benefit was 2%.
HSE Mid West
This health region covers Limerick, Tipperary North, and Clare. It had a population of 413,059 people as of April 2022, with the highest age group percentage being 40-44-years for females and 10-14-years for males. Some 31% of its total population had a medical card and 11% had a GP visit card. The percentage of its total population availing of disability allowance was 3%, carer's allowance (2%), invalidity pension (1%), and illness benefit was 2%.
HSE West and North West
This health region covers Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, and Galway. It had a population of 759,652 people as of April 2022, with the highest age group percentages being 40-44-years for females, and 10-14-years for males. Some 34% of its total population had a medical card and 11% had a GP visit card. The percentage of its total population availing of disability allowance was 3%, carer's allowance (2%), invalidity pension (1%), and illness benefit was 2%.”