On 15 December, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) released the second phase of main statistics results for the 2021 Census in Northern Ireland. The release includes data on housing and accommodation, health, disability, and unpaid care.
According to the data, key insights from the release include:
- 34.7% of people in Northern Ireland had one or more long-term health condition (659,800 people). The most prevalent conditions (whether solely or in combination with others) were ‘Long-term pain or discomfort’ (11.6% of people), ‘Mobility or dexterity difficulty that limits basic physical activities’ (10.9% of people), and ‘Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing’ (10.3% of people).
- For the first time, the Census included ‘Autism or Asperger syndrome’ as a listed health condition and 35,000 people were recorded with this condition. There were 19,000 children (or one child in 20) with ‘Autism or Asperger syndrome’ recorded.
- One in every eight people aged five or older (222,200 people) provided unpaid care to a relative or friend with a health condition or illness. One in every 25 people (68,700 people) provided 50 or more hours of unpaid care per week.
- A question on renewable energy systems was asked for the first time in the Census. In total, over 5% of households had one or more renewable energy systems installed. The most common systems were solar panels for electricity (24,200 households) and solar panels for heating water (18,600 households).
More resources
Download census data tables and metadata from Census 2021
Data in the spotlight: Census and population studies on-demand training
Using census data for research
Teaching with census data training – 17 January 2023
Census 2021 – 2022 Data Impact blogposts
Podcast with our Service Director of Census, Oliver Duke-Williams
Post Views: 3,198