Cohort Profile: the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

Abstract

How did the study come about? Ireland shares with other developed countries the prospect of rapid and sustained population ageing. The age distribution of the Irish population is undergoing a dramatic change at present and this trend is predicted to continue into the future.1 People are living longer, and older persons represent a larger proportion of the population. In Ireland, the proportion of the population aged 565 years has remained steady at 11% for the past 40 years. However, it is projected that this proportion will rise to 14% by 2021 and to 19% by 2031.2 The greatest increase will be in the oldest old, aged 480 years, which is expected to more than treble by 2036.2 This change in the demographic profile of the Irish population poses a major public health challenge.