Irish children's general health is better than their tooth care, CSO figures show
Some 3.2pc were considered to have 'bad or very bad' general dental health, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The figures show that 93.4pc of children aged two to eight years of age were considered to have good or very good general health, compared with 94.6pc of children aged nine to 12 years and 89.6pcpc of children aged 13 to 17 years.
The percentage of children aged two to 17 years who were considered to be in good or very good health was highest in HSE south west at 95.2pc and lowest in HSE Dublin and Midlands at 90.8pc.
Almost one in five – 18.4pc – of children aged two to 17 years have a long-standing illness or health problem and it is higher for males – 19.9pc – than females at 16.8pc.
Over one in 20 children aged two to 17 years were admitted to a hospital as an in-patient and 14.7pc were a day-case patient in the past 12 months.
Almost half of children aged two to 17 years needed a medical examination or treatment – excluding dental – for a health problem in the past 12 months.
Fruits and vegetables were eaten at least once a day by 89.0pc of children aged two to 17 years – although consumption fell off slightly among older children.
Some 95.9pc had a meal with meat, chicken, or fish – or vegetarian equivalent – at least once a day.
Participation in leisure activities such as swimming, playing an instrument, or youth organisations was highest for those aged nine to 12 years at 92.3pc and lowest for those aged two to eight years at 80.8pc.
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Sarah Crilly, Statistician in the Health and Social Cohesion Division, said: 'The statistics contained in this release are selected from a module on children's health that was included in the Irish Health Survey, which was conducted in 2024.
"The guardians of children aged between two to 17 years were asked questions, via an online questionnaire, about their child's health status, access to health care, and their health determinants such as nutrition and recreational activities.
'The release includes a selection of statistics from the children's module survey with additional data available on the CSO's open data portal, PxStat. The complete list of statistics are included in the Data chapter of this release, with further statistics disaggregated by age, sex and HSE health region. This is the first CSO survey publication to include statistics by HSE health region.'
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