More young women and teenage girls are drinking harmful levels of alcohol than females in those age groups did a decade ago, a survey has found.
Overall in the Department of Health’s annual Health Ireland survey 26 per cent of people reported binge drinking.
This was down from 28 per cent in 2024 and 30 per cent in 2015, suggesting the trends of alcohol consumption are improving from a health perspective.
However, women aged 15 to 24 are bucking this, with 39 per cent drinking at a “harmful level”, up on 31 per cent of that age cohort in 2015.
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Harmful levels are determined through a series of questions relating to how much and how often someone drinks, and the potential this has to harm health.
Across all age groups, men continue to drink more than women, with a total of 47 per cent of men drinking at a harmful level compared to 25 per cent of women.
The survey was carried out by Ipsos B&A, on behalf of the department, with more than 7,500 respondents aged 15 and older in a nationally representative sample.
It found an increase in the proportion of people who reported their general health as “good” or “very good”, rising to 82 per cent from 80 per cent.
The findings showed that rates of smoking and e-cigarette usage have remained static for the last two years, at 17 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.
Concerns were raised about the prevalence of e-cigarette usage, with rates rising from 6 per cent in 2022 and being highest among those aged 15 to 24.
With regard to rest, the average person sleeps for 6.9 hours on a work night, slightly lower than the 2019 average of 7.1 hours.
Almost a third (32 per cent) of the population said they slept for six hours or less, up from 25 per cent pre-pandemic in 2019.
Prof Mary Horgan, chief medical officer, said a good night’s sleep “is a really healthy thing to have”.
“There are many causes of poor sleep. A lot of it can be stress when it comes to work, studying and life in general,” she said.
Physical activity was “one of the big things that we do” to improve sleep, she said.
For the first time, this year’s survey also included questions around 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.
Two-fifths of women in perimenopause said they felt less able to pay attention at work because of their symptoms, while 27 per cent missed social events of meeting friends.
The survey was conducted before the provision of free hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
In response to the survey’s findings, Minister for Public Health Jennifer Murnane O’Connor said there had been “good progress” in tackling smoking rates over the past decade.
“However, these figures also serve as a warning, too many young people are still experimenting with vaping and too many people are still smoking,” she said.
Prof Horgan said the survey “paints a positive picture of the health of our population”.
“The fact that people who are older are saying they feel healthier is really encouraging and the amount of chronic diseases that people have is reducing,” she said.
