Minister Murnane O’Connor and Chief Medical Officer publish results of the 2025 Healthy Ireland survey
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From: Department of Health
- Published on: 7 November 2025
- Last updated on: 7 November 2025
The Minister of State for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Policy, Jennifer Murnane O’Connor and the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Mary Horgan today published the results of the Healthy Ireland Survey 2025.
Carried out by IPSOS B&A on behalf of the Department of Health, the survey provides insights into a range of health and lifestyle behaviours. It is used to guide the development of policies that support people to live healthier lives.
This year’s Survey, which included more than 7,500 people aged 15 and over, covered smoking, vaping and alcohol consumption, sleep, health service utilisation, contraception and caring responsibilities. It also includes, for the first time, a module on menopause.
The results demonstrate some improvements in the reported good health of the population, and reductions in many harmful health behaviours including binge drinking.
Highlights include:
- 82% of people reported their general health as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, up from 80% in 2023
- 2% decline since 2024 in the number of people who report consuming alcohol in the last 12 months, and 26% report binge drinking, down from 28% in 2024 and 30% in 2015
- 80% of people report visiting a GP in the last 12 months, a 9% increase on 2015
- 43% of those who accessed a healthcare service in the last 12 months did not pay for the service
- 69% of women in perimenopause have sought medical support for their symptoms
- people get 6.9 hours of sleep per week-night, on average. Women carers report poorer quality sleep than those in the general population
Minister Murnane O’Connor said:
"The Healthy Ireland Survey is a vital tool to help us identify patterns and trends in public health and wellbeing. It tells us where policies and initiatives are working well but also highlights where additional steps may be needed.
"It's encouraging to see that we are making progress in our efforts to support people to enjoy good health and wellbeing throughout their lives. This is particularly important as our health service evolves to meet the needs of our growing and ageing population.
"I note that the largest improvement in perceptions of general health has occurred in adults age 75 and older, with 69% reporting good or very good health in 2025 compared to 60% in 2015."
This year’s results showed that rates of smoking and e-cigarette use have remained static for the last two years, at 17% and 8% respectively. Usage rates for e-cigarettes have risen from 6% in 2022 and are highest amongst 15-24 year-olds. Over a quarter (26%) of the population are considered binge drinkers, a 4% decrease on rates reported in 2015 (30%).
Minister Murnane O’Connor said:
"The figures contained in this survey reaffirm the need for robust legislation to protect health and wellbeing, and to support more people to make healthier choices.
“We have made good progress in tackling smoking rates over the last 10 years through progressive legislation, and this can be seen in recent surveys. However, these figures also serve as a warning, too many young people are still experimenting with vaping, and too many people are still smoking. The Public Health (Alcohol) Act is a landmark piece of legislation, aimed at reducing alcohol consumption across the population as it is now recognised that there are no safe levels of consumption.
“We must stay focused on prevention, protection and support so that healthier choices become the easier choices for everyone.
“Reducing smoking, preventing young people from vaping and protecting the health of our next generation are my key priorities. I welcome the HSE’s new vaping prevention information campaign, which gives parents the facts they need to support young people and prevent them from vaping."
For the first time, the survey included questions on women’s experience of menopause. Almost half of women who reported being in perimenopause or one to five years after the cessation of periods, reported a somewhat negative or very negative experience. The majority of women going through or having gone through menopause said they experienced symptoms, with 13% describing their symptoms as severe and impacting significantly on their life.
Chief Medical Officer, Professor Mary Horgan said:
"I welcome the survey’s focus on women’s experiences of menopause. While it’s evident that this phase of life can and does impact negatively on many women, we continue to develop women’s health services to provide more timely, tailored healthcare.
"This includes the development of specialist menopause clinics and the provision of free Hormone Replacement Therapy for women experiencing symptoms of menopause, a measure which was introduced after the fieldwork for this study was carried out."
The Survey also included questions aimed at those in a caring role, with a specific focus on women carers. It found that self-reported good health among women carers aged 35-54 is broadly similar to that of other women in this age group, and they also reported similar levels of smoking and e-cigarette usage. Overall, carers reported poorer quality sleep than non-carers, with 58% of carers reporting good or very good quality sleep compared with 69% of non-carers.
Data on health service utilisation revealed that 80% of people report having visited a GP in the previous 12 months, significantly higher than the 71% recorded in 2015. It should also be noted that the population as a whole has risen by approximately 800,000 since 2015 – we have more people in total living in Ireland, and they now visit the GP more often.
Those with a GP Visit card show the largest increase in GP attendance since 2015, with a 17-point increase to 90%. The proportion of those with a medical card attending a GP has also increased, by 6 points to 88%.
Survey participants were also asked about their use of other healthcare services, with women more likely to report using vaccination or screening services than men (38% versus 30%).
Professor Horgan added:
"Overall, this survey paints a positive picture of the health of our population in 2025, and as this year marks 10 years since the survey first took place, it’s encouraging to see many positive trends in that time.
“It’s also clear that our health service is working harder than ever to meet the needs of a growing and ageing population, improving access to healthcare, in line with the vision of Sláintecare.
“We are enabling more people to see their local GP, more often, and since 2023 we have significantly expanded eligibility for GP Visit Cards to include all children under eight years of age, and all those earning up to the median household income.
“We’re expanding services across the country to meet demand, and increasing supports for key groups, with our Programme for Government recognising the critical role played by carers by committing to fully funding the Carer’s Guarantee.
“The data in this survey provides us with the insights required to keep moving forward, by improving existing initiatives and developing new policies that protect and improve the long-term health of the population."
Notes
Developed by the Department of Health, the annual Healthy Ireland Survey by Ipsos B&A gives a current picture of the health of the nation, highlighting many health-related lifestyle behaviours.
The 2025 report includes findings on:
- general health
- smoking, e-cigarette and nicotine pouches
- alcohol, harms of alcohol
- menopause
- contraception
- sleep
- caring responsibilities
- the uptake of healthcare services
gov.ie/menopause is an information resource for those experiencing menopause.
This is the tenth set of findings from the Healthy Ireland survey and adds to the data collected in the previous surveys published from 2015 - 2024.
For the 2025 survey, a representative sample of 7,556 people, aged 15 and older and living in Ireland were interviewed between October 2024 and April 2025.