This is the seventh summary of the findings from the Healthy Ireland survey. A representative sample of 7,454 people aged 15 and older, living in all regions of Ireland, were interviewed between October 2020 and March 2021.

Alcohol consumption

• 66% of people have consumed alcohol in the previous 6 months, with those aged 15-24 (70%) and men (68%) most likely to do so
• 37% of the population aged 15 and older drink alcohol at least once a week. This compares to 41% in the previous measurement in 2018
• 15% of the population (22% of drinkers) binge drink on a typical drinking occasion. This compares to 28% (37% of drinkers) in 2018
• 84% of the population (and 90% of women of reproductive age) correctly identified drinking during pregnancy as unsafe

Smoking

• 18% of the population are current smokers, a decline of 5 percentage points since the first wave of this survey in 2015 and roughly equivalent to smoking levels in seen in 2018
• 16% smoke daily and 2% occasionally
• smoking in 25-34 year-olds has declined by 6 percentage points to 20% since 2019
• 24% of 45-54 year-olds now have the highest prevalence of smoking (24%)
• 44% of all who smoked in the last 12 months have attempted to quit
• 27% of those who attempted to quit in the last 12 months were successful.
• 4% of the population have used e-cigarettes, with those aged under 25 most likely to have used them