Growing Up in Ireland

Growing Up in Ireland is the national longitudinal study of children and young people, a joint project of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) and the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Since 2006, the study has provided Government with an evidence base to make informed policy decisions on a wide range of issues based on data from children and young people living in Ireland.

The study follows the progress of two groups of children: 8,000 9-year-olds (Cohort ’98) and 10,000 9-month-olds (Cohort ’08). The members of Cohort ’98 are now 24-25 years old and those of Cohort ’08 are around 14 years old.

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Latest GUI News:

  • Scoping Review to Inform the Development of a Potential New Birth Cohort for Growing Up in Ireland published 26th May, see more here.
  • Our 15th annual GUI conference will take place on November 8th in the Gibson Hotel, Dublin. Further information here.
  • We’ve started a new ‘spotlight’ series to feature more of the work done with GUI data by external researchers. See more here.
  • In January 2023 the Growing Up in Ireland study moved from the ESRI and Trinity College to the DCEDIY and CSO.

Where are we now:

  • Data collection with Cohort ’98 at age 25 is beginning soon. Participants can find further information here.
  • We completed data collection for Cohort ’08 at 13 years in June 2022.  Work on data preparation has commenced.
  • Key findings from the special online ‘Covid-19’ survey (Dec 2020) were released on March 26th. The data have been archived (Oct 2021) and are open to applications.
  • Please contact the GUI team by email only via growingup@equality.gov.ie