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Children & Youth Affairs Minister Frances Fitzgerald today launched the State of the Nation’s Children Report: Ireland 2012.

The Report is the fourth in a biennial series, presents administrative, survey and Census data on children’s lives.

Minister Fitzgerald welcomed the Report stating:

...this Report is generally very positive. It highlights Ireland as a great place to grow up in.

Some of the key findings in the report include:

• Number of children in Ireland increased by 13.4% since 2002
• Ireland now has the highest proportion of children in the EU
• Large increase in proportion of children who have never smoked

• Significant decrease in number of babies born to teenage girls

• 83.6% of newborn visited by a Public Health Nurse within 48 hours

• Number of children on a hospital waiting list decreased by 45.1% 

The report indicated that in 2011, there were 1,148,687 children in Ireland, accounting for 25% of the population and that the number of children in Ireland increased by 13.4% between 2002 and 2011. Ireland now has the highest proportion of children of any EU country.

Minister Fitzgerald stated: “this is an immensely valuable national resource offering unprecedented potential for Ireland’s future.

However Minister Fitzgerald noted that Ireland’s increasing child and youth population also poses significant challenges for Government in planning for the future, including increased costs relating to childcare, schools and youth services.

The Report further indicated an increase in population among specific groups and categories of children.

• The number of Traveller children is up 30.3%;

• The number of foreign national children is up 49.5%;

• The number of children in lone-parent households is up 10.2%; and

• The number of children in the care of the HSE increased by approximately 16% between 2007 & 2011.

The Minister stated that

...these changes clearly present challenges both to policy makers and service providers, in particular in relation to the provision of targeted programmes and services in areas such as child welfare and social inclusion.

Minister Fitzgerald added that

...the increased population figures strengthen the need for a much sharper focus in Ireland on early intervention and early year’s services with a view to improving children outcomes and future prospects.

Read the full press release here.