Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Household Budget Survey (HBS) is a large national household survey conducted by the Central Statistics Office on a five yearly basis. It collects information on household’s expenditure on goods and services.

HBS 2015/2016 indicated that the average weekly household expenditure on Medical expenses/services and therapeutic equipment for that period was €18.48, equivalent to 2.2% of total household expenditure.

More up-to-date information is not available at this stage as the HBS is a quinquennial survey which was also deferred on two occasions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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In Census 2022, the reference person in each private household is the first person in the household identified as a parent, spouse, cohabiting partner or head of a non-family household containing related persons. Where no person in the household satisfied these criteria, the first usually resident person was used as the reference person. In this context, the reference person is referred to as the ‘head of household’.

A private household comprises either one person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address with common housekeeping arrangements - that is, sharing at least one meal a day or sharing a living room or sitting room. In order to be included in the household, a person had to be a usual resident at the time of the census.

A private dwelling is the room or set of rooms occupied by a private household in a permanent housing unit.

The table below shows persons aged 70 years or over who are head of a permanent private householdat the time of the census.