Life expectancy in Ireland has increased by almost two and a half years since 2007, according to this year's 'Health in Ireland - Key Trends 2019' report published by the Department of Health.

The report states that over the past decade an average three months per year has been added to life expectancy.

Life expectancy for women in Ireland is 84 years, while for men it is 80.4 years, a gap of 3.6 years. The gap has narrowed from 5.3 years in 1997 and is now at its lowest since the 1950s.

Male life expectancy has increased by three years and female life expectancy by almost two years since 2007.

It says much of the increase in life expectancy is due to significant reductions in major causes of death such as circulatory system diseases and cancer.

The data shows that male life expectancy is consistently higher than the European Union average over the past decade, while female life expectancy surpassed the EU average in 2017.

Men are more inclined to be overweight or obese while women are more likely to be physically inactive, according to the report.

Nearly 70% of men are likely to be overweight or obese compared to around 57% of women while just over 62% of women are physically inactive compared to about 46% of men

The report says that the population aged 65 and over has increased by 35.2% since 2009, considerably higher than the EU average increase of 16.5%.

The latest population projections released by the CSO indicate that this population growth is set to continue for at least the next two decades.

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Meanwhile, the report says the total number of people waiting for outpatient appointments has risen steadily over the last year.

It says the total number of people waiting for outpatient appointments in hospitals has risen steadily over the last year, and the number of those waiting 52 weeks or more has risen 16% since November 2018.

As of November 2019, there were 12,710 adults waiting nine months or more for an elective procedure, a decrease of almost 14% on November last year

The report finds that public hospitals continue to treat more patients, and patients admitted to our hospitals are older.

In 2018, 54% of inpatients and 40% of day cases were aged 65 and over. This compared to 48% and 35% respectively in 2009.

The report shows that 50% of people who attend Emergency Departments spend more than six hours there, 25% of attendees experience a time of more than nine hours.

Fewer people have medical cards in 2018 compared to 2012 - 32.4% of the population had a medical card in December 2018, compared to over 40% in 2012

Numbers of GP only visit cards in 2017 increased to just under 503,700, though it should be noted that this is largely due to the introduction of GP visit cards to all children under six in 2015.