Over 500,000 adults in Ireland are living with their parents, according to census data released by the Central Statistics Office today.

This is a 14% increase over previous census data gathered in 2016.

Nearly 60% of these were men, and over half of them were employed.

Adults aged between 20-24 were most likely to live with their parents – 61% – compared to 15% of 30-24 year olds.

The most affected area was in south Dublin, where 16% of adults live at home, while Galway exhibited the lowest at 9%.

Other data released from Census 2022 shows a sharp rise in the number of same-sex couples, and children with same-sex parents.

There were 10,393 same-sex couples registered in 2022, an increase of 72% on 2016, while the number of children in same-sex couple families increased by 86%.

The counties with the greatest increases in same-sex couples were in Meath – 152% – and Roscommon – 143%.

On children specifically, the data shows that one-third of children in the state – those under the age of 15 – are in some form of childcare.

50,000 of these children were at pre-primary level.

The lowest proportion is in south Dublin – 29% – while the highest is in Monaghan – 38%.

CSO statistician Deirdre Lynch noted the difference in care options depending on citizenship.

“While over a third of Irish children were in some form of childcare, only around a fifth of Polish and Indian children were” she said.

Since 1996, the number of families has risen by 59%, but the average number of children per family fell by 26%