More people over 65 in Ireland working, driving, travelling and marrying, new figures show

'The population of Ireland is ageing, with life expectancy increasing and older people continuing to be an active and vibrant part of our community.' File picture 

The number of people aged 65 or over in Ireland is expected to double to 1.6 million by 2051, with the 'older generation' also working and marrying more than they were five years ago.

Driving licenses and domestic overnight trips all rose too for those aged 65 or over, according to new data published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) with the assistance of results from Census 2022. 

There was an almost 80% increase in the number of people aged 70 and older holding full driving licences between 2012 and 2022, from 205,000 to 366,000.

It showed there are 806,000 people aged 65 or over in Ireland currently, a jump of over 40% since 2013. The CSO said the figure would rise even more in the next decade.

The figures came as part of the latest update to the CSO's Older Persons Information Hub, launched last year.

Statistician for the CSO's health division Sarah Crilly explained: "The population of Ireland is ageing, with life expectancy increasing and older people continuing to be an active and vibrant part of our community. 

"The Older Persons Information Hub includes both social and economic indicators, which cover health, education, employment, poverty, life events, and more. This reflects the full and varied lives led by older people in our country, with many continuing to work and act as carers in the community."

Alongside the rise in the overall number of pensioners, the CSO delivered information on their habits.

• There was an almost 80% increase in the number of people aged 70 and older holding full driving licences between 2012 and 2022, from 205,000 to 366,000;
• The number of marriages registered by people aged 60 years and over more than doubled between 2012 and 2022, from 505 to 1,028;
• There was a similar jump in the number of domestic overnight trips taken by those aged 65 and over between 2017 and 2021, which more than doubled, from approximately 125,000 trips to 269,000;
• There were 113,700 people aged 65 or over working an average of 31.1 hours per week in 2023 — both stats are up on figures from five years ago when 75,800 people were working.

Other key indicators found in the Older Persons Information Hub included:

• Almost twice as many women aged 75 years and over were likely to use the bus at least weekly at 13%, compared with 7% of men aged 75 years and over;
• Fewer than half (42%) of those aged 75 years and over have never used the internet, in comparison with 13% of those aged 60 to 74 years;
• Three-fifths (58%) of those aged 75 years or over found it very easy to get practical help from neighbours, compared with two-fifths (40%) of those aged 25-34 years;
• For those aged 65 and over, almost two-thirds of men (62%) and more than half of women (55%) experienced some difficulty with household activities in 2019;
• In 2022, two-thirds of those aged 65 years and over had trust in the national government (66%) in comparison with just over a third of those aged 18-44 years (35%);
• Between 2021 and 2022, the recorded attempts or threats to murder, assaults, harassments, and related offences on those aged 65 years and over increased by almost a quarter, from 1,109 to 1,362 crime incidents.

Ms Crilly said: “Given the range of many different objective and subjective measures, it is very difficult to create a complete snapshot of the lives of older people in Ireland. 

"The hub contains 46 different indicators, divided into specific themes. Individuals will, depending on their own experiences, naturally assign different weights to the relative importance to each of the Older Person themes. 

"One of the aims of the hub is to provide an accessible facility for users to examine themes and indicators for themselves to further understand particular aspects of the lives of older people.”