PART 1: SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHICS

Child Population

Knowing the number of children at present and the number of children there are likely to be in the future is critical to effective social planning.1

Measure

The number of children under 18.

Key findings

  • In 2007, there were 1,056,947 children under 18 years of age living in Ireland (see Table 1).Of these, 541,503 were boys and 515,444 were girls.
  • In 2007, the percentage of children under 18 accounted for almost one-quarter (24.4%) of the total population of Ireland.

Table 1: Population of Ireland aged under 18 years (2007)

Age Boys Girls Total Cumulative Total
<1 year 33,707 31,788 65,495 65,495
1 year 32,167 30,236 62,403 127,898
2 years 31,702 29,506 61,208 189,106
3 years 31,771 30,118 61,889 250,995
4 years 31,152 30,172 61,324 312,319
5 years 30,600 29,764 60,364 372,683
6 years 30,371 29,125 59,496 432,179
7 years 30,343 28,482 58,825 491,004
8 years 30,272 29,126 59,398 550,402
9 years 29,733 28,100 57,833 608,235
10 years 29,146 28,078 57,224 665,459
11 years 28,225 26,675 54,900 720,359
12 years 27,840 26,222 54,062 774,421
13 years 27,540 26,187 53,727 828,148
14 years 28,567 27,085 55,652 883,800
15 years 29,041 28,242 57,283 941,083
16 years 30,265 28,575 58,840 999,923
17 years 29,061 27,963 57,024 1,056,947
Total population – under 18 541,503 515,444 1,056,947  
Total population – all ages 2,171,120 2,167,906 4,339,026  

Source: Population Projections, CSO

  • The percentage of children aged under 18 has decreased over the past 26 years, from 36.2% in 1981 to 24.4% in 2007 (see Table 2).
  • The number of children under 18 has also decreased over this time period, from 1,246,443 in 1981 to 1,056,947 in 2007, but has been rising since 2002.
  • In 2007, boys under 18 accounted for 24.9% of all males in the population and girls under 18 accounted for 23.8% of all females in the population.

Table 2: Population of Ireland aged under 18, by gender (selected years 1981-2007)

Year Boys % of
all males		 Girls % of
all females		 Total % of
all ages
1981 638,768 36.9 607,675 35.5 1,246,443 36.2
1986 630,985 35.7 599,165 33.8 1,230,150 34.7
1991 587,655 33.5 557,738 31.5 1,145,393 32.5
1996 550,389 30.6 521,583 28.6 1,071,972 29.6
2002 519,483 26.7 493,548 25.0 1,013,031 25.9
2006 530,973 25.0 505,061 23.8 1,036,034 24.4
2007 541,503 24.9 515,444 23.8 1,056,947 24.4

Source: Census of the Population and Population Estimates, CSO

  • In 2007, Ireland had a higher proportion of children under 18 years of age (24.4%) than any other EU Member State (see Table 3 and Figure 1).

Table 3: Percentage of population under 18 years in EU27 (selected years 1997-2007)

Country 1997 2002 2007
Austria 21.2 20.2 19.2
Belgium 21.5 21.0 20.7
Bulgaria 21.5 19.0 17.2
Cyprus 29.1 26.2 22.2
Czech Republic 22.3 19.8 18.1
Denmark 21.1 21.9 22.3
Estonia 24.3 21.8 19.3
EU27 21.9 20.6 19.4
Finland 22.7

21.7

 20.8
France 23.6 22.9 22.4
Germany 19.4 18.7 17.3
Greece 20.9 18.4 17.4
Hungary 22.0 20.2 18.9
Ireland 29.1 26.0 24.4
Italy 17.9 17.3 17.1
Latvia 24.1 21.4 18.4
Lithuania 25.6 23.8 20.5
Luxembourg 21.9 22.3 21.9
Malta 26.3 23.5 20.9
Netherlands 22.0 22.2 21.8
Poland 27.0 23.5 20.1
Portugal 21.5 19.5 18.7
Romania 24.6 22.3 19.5
Slovakia 26.8 23.6 20.5
Slovenia 22.0 19.3 17.4
Spain 20.3 18.0 17.5
Sweden 22.2 21.8 21.2
United Kingdom 23.1 22.5 21.5

Source: Eurostat

 

Figure 1: Percentage of population under 18 years in EU27, by country (2007)

Figure1

Technical notes
Population estimates are based on the de facto population present on Census night in any area, including visitors present at that time as well as those in residence. Usual residents who are temporarily absent from the area are excluded from the Census count.

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1 OMC (2006) State of the Nation’s Children: Ireland 2006, Office of the Minister for Children. Dublin: The Stationery Office. Available at: www.childrensdatabase.ie OR www.omc.gov.ie.