The Healthy Ireland Survey is conducted annually, with a representative sample of the population aged 15 and older living in Ireland. Fieldwork to date has been conducted by Ipsos B&A. 7,556 people, aged 15 and older and living in Ireland were interviewed via phone, between October 2024 and April 2025.

Smoking

• 17% of the population are current smokers, with 13% smoking daily and 4% occasionally. Smoking rates have remained static since 2019.
• Smoking is higher amongst men (20%) than women (14%) and amongst those with a Leaving Certificate or lower (21%) than those with higher levels of education (11%).
• 30% of the population are ex-smokers. 46% of those who have smoked in the past year have attempted to quit smoking.
• During their last attempt to quit, 67% of smokers did so without using any quitting aids.
• Of the 33% of people who used at least one quit aid during their last attempt to quit, 18% used nicotine patches, gum, lozenges or spray, 11% used an e-cigarette and 2% used a nicotine pouch/pod. Only 1% used www.quit.ie to help them quit during their last attempt.
• 8% of the population currently use e-cigarettes either daily (5%) or occasionally (3%), with a further 12% reporting they have tried them in the past but no longer use them. In 2022, 6% were current users of e-cigarettes.
• A fifth (20%) of women aged 15-24 use e-cigarettes either daily or occasionally; the rate for men of the same age group is 16%.

E-Cigarettes and Nicotine Pouches

• 77% of the population have never tried an e-cigarette. 8% of the population currently use e-cigarettes either daily (5%) or occasionally (3%), with a further 15% saying they have tried them in the past but no longer use them.
• E-cigarette usage is highest among younger people, with 18% of those aged 15-24 claiming to use one daily (11%) or occasionally (7%). Among this age group, usage is higher among women (19%) than men (16%), with usage dropping by 4-points in men (down from 20% in 2024) and increasing by 4 points for women (19%, up from 15% in 2024).
• 50% of all e-cigarette users are ex-smokers, while 33% of e-cigarette users are current smokers (Daily: 18%, Occasionally: 15%). The remaining 17% have never smoked.
• Of those that use e-cigarettes daily or occasionally, 36% use disposable devices, 49% use devices that can be refilled, and the remaining 26% use devices that can be recharged with a disposable single-use cartridge.
• 38%of e-cigarette users buy e-cigarettes, e-liquids or cartridges in specialist e-cigarette retailers and 27% buy them from newsagents, off-licences, or corner shops. Other less common but notable locations people buy e-cigarettes include petrol stations (12%), supermarkets (10%), and specialist e-cigarette retailers (7%).
• 38% perceive e-cigarettes as more harmful than cigarettes, 36% thought they are equally harmful, and 11% felt they are less harmful. The remaining 15% said they did not know.
• 1% of the population currently use nicotine pouches either daily (1%) or occasionally (<1%), with 6% saying they have tried them in the past but no longer use them.

Alcohol and Non-Alcoholic Drinks (Zero-Alcohol Beer, Wine and Spirits)

• 71% of individuals aged 15 or older report consuming alcohol during the past 12 months. This is a 2-point decrease from 2024 (73%).
• Over three-quarters (78%) of men report drinking alcohol in the past 12 months, compared to 74% of women.
• 35% of people drink at least once a week. This is down 3 points from 2023 (38%).
• 20% drink multiple times per week – a slight decrease from 2023 (21%).
• 26% of the population are binge drinkers on a typical drinking occasion (i.e. drink at least standard 6 units of alcohol). This is 4-points down from the first wave in 2015 (30%).
• Men are more likely than women to binge drink (40% and 12% respectively), with younger people more likely to do so than older people (15-24 year olds: 36%, 75+ year olds: 7%).
• 25% of the population said that they drink non-alcoholic beer, wine or spirits.
• 56% of people who drink non-alcoholic drinks said they do so when they need to drive home. 29% said they drink them to reduce alcohol consumption for health reasons and 16% said they do when they need to get up early the next day and don’t want a hangover. 13% said they drink non-alcoholic drinks because they prefer them to regular alcoholic drinks.

Harms of Alcohol

• 20% of the population are at risk of hazardous or harmful drinking. Of these, 18% have AUDIT scores between 8 to 15, 1% have scores between 16 to 19 indicating higher risk and a further 1% have scores of 20 or more, indicating a possible alcohol dependence.
• Men (29%) are more likely than women (11%) to be at risk of hazardous drinking (i.e. AUDIT score of 8 or higher). People aged 15 to 24 have the highest rate of hazardous drinking for both men (39%) and women (25%).
• People educated with a degree or higher (17%) are less likely to be at risk of hazardous drinking, whereas people educated to upper secondary level (25%) are more likely to.
• Students (46%) are more likely to be at risk of hazardous drinking, whereas those engaged in home duties (7%) and people in retirement (10%) are less likely to.
• 36% of people (51% of drinkers) drink alcohol at a harmful level. Men (47%) are more likely than women (25%) to drink at a harmful level.
• As with overall alcohol consumption, harmful drinking rates have decreased for both men and women since 2015. However, this decrease is not equally shared across all ages or genders. For instance, while both men and women aged 25 to 34 saw a considerable decrease in harmful drinking rates (22-points down for men and 13-points down for women), among those aged 15-24 there is an 8-point increase for women and no change for men in this age group.