A Social Portrait of Children in Ireland

This report aims to bring together some facts and figures about children in Ireland today, drawing on a range of statistical sources and studies. This information is particularly useful when developing policies that affect children, for example, the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion (NAPinclusion).

We start the report by describing the main trends in numbers of children and their importance in the overall population. We then go on to look at the following topics: the households in which children live; their social and economic circumstances; their education; whether they work; the childcare they receive; their health and physical activity; and their activities during their free time.