THERE has been a “significant decrease” in happiness levels among children in Ireland according to new figures released this week.
The latest State of the Nation Children’s Report was released by Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman yesterday.
The data, which presents key information on children’s health, behavioural and educational outcomes, revealed the drop in levels of happiness.
It showed that in 2022 78.5% of children aged 10–17 reported being happy with their lives.
This marked a “significant decrease” on the figure of 88.2% who reported that in 2018.
The figures also reveal that 322 children were admitted to psychiatric hospitals or units, and child and adolescent units in Ireland in 2023.
Elsewhere, the figures show a slight reduction in experiences of being bullied.
In 2022, 28.6% of children reported having been bullied at school, a slight decrease from 31.1% figure recorded in 2018.
More children are getting active in Ireland too, with in 2022, 54.9% of children aged 10–17 reported being physically active for at least 60 minutes per day on more than four days per week in 2022, which is an increase from the 51.1% figure recorded in 2018.
First released in 2006, the SONC was originally published biennially.
Since 2020 it has been released annually by the Data and Analytics Unit in Ireland’s Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.
It provides the most up-to-date data on Ireland’s cational child wellbeing indicators and is used to inform government policy on children, young people and families.
“The SONC reports are useful for tracking trends in relation to children’s wellbeing, they provide data that shows us where more work needs to be done and presents us with evidence of where progress is being made,” a department spokesperson said.