Last updated: September 2026. Human written and fact checked against each named source.
Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Ireland, more than 11,000 cases a year, and the number of young Irish adults getting sunburnt has climbed sharply in the last three years. Behind those headlines sit two of the most common chronic conditions in the country, eczema and psoriasis, and a dermatology service with more than 60,000 people on its waiting list. This page gathers the most current, verifiable skin health statistics for Ireland in one place, drawn from the National Cancer Registry Ireland, the CSO, HIQA, the Irish Skin Foundation and the Healthy Ireland Survey. It is written for journalists, students, health writers and anyone who needs a sourced Irish figure on skin disease or sun safety.
Key Skin Health Statistics for Ireland at a Glance
- More than 11,000 people in Ireland are diagnosed with skin cancer every year, making it the most common cancer in the country. Source: National Cancer Registry Ireland, Cancer Trends No. 42, March 2025
- About 270 people die from skin cancer in Ireland each year, and 9 out of 10 diagnoses are non-melanoma skin cancers. Source: NCRI, March 2025
- Melanoma deaths registered in Ireland rose from 158 in 2019 to 198 in 2023. Source: CSO, table VSA29
- 84% of adults aged 18 to 24 were sunburnt at least once in the past year, up from 73% in 2024 and 66% in 2023. Source: HSE National Cancer Control Programme and Healthy Ireland SunSmart survey, reported by the Irish Times, April 2026
- Eczema affects 1 in 5 children and 1 in 10 adults in Ireland. Source: Irish Skin Foundation
- At least 73,000 people in Ireland live with psoriasis, close to 2% of the population. Source: Irish Skin Foundation
- More than 60,000 people were waiting for a dermatology appointment as of June 2025, with some waiting up to three years. Source: HIQA health technology assessment, reported by the Irish Times, April 2026
- 90% of Irish schoolchildren aged 10 to 17 have been sunburnt in their lifetime and 74% in the past year. Source: International Journal of Public Health, HBSC Ireland study of 10,271 children, 2021
- 18% of adults in Ireland have used a sunbed at some point, and 6% of women under 45 use them currently. Source: Healthy Ireland Survey 2022
- Men are 1.6 times more likely to die from melanoma and 2.3 times more likely to die from non-melanoma skin cancer than women. Source: NCRI, March 2025
Skin Cancer, Ireland’s Most Common Cancer
The National Cancer Registry Ireland published its most recent skin cancer trends report in March 2025. It found that more than 11,000 people in Ireland are diagnosed with skin cancer each year, making skin cancer the most common cancer in the country, ahead of breast and prostate cancer. About 9 out of 10 of those cases are non-melanoma skin cancers, chiefly basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, with melanoma making up most of the remainder. Source: NCRI, Cancer Trends No. 42, March 2025.
The survival picture is genuinely good. Almost all non-melanoma patients survive at least five years, close to 100%, and melanoma five-year survival has improved to 92%, or about 9 in 10 patients. The registry attributes this to early detection, because most skin cancers of both kinds are caught at stage I or stage II when they are much easier to treat. Source: NCRI, March 2025.
The trend lines differ by sex and by cancer type. Among women, squamous cell carcinoma incidence is decreasing and basal cell carcinoma is stabilising, but melanoma incidence in women continues to increase. Among men, squamous cell carcinoma is stabilising, basal cell carcinoma is rising more slowly than before, and melanoma incidence stopped increasing in 2015. Source: NCRI, March 2025.
Skin Cancer Deaths and the Gap Between Men and Women
The registry puts skin cancer deaths at about 270 a year. The CSO’s death registrations give the underlying detail, and they show melanoma deaths climbing. The table below is compiled from CSO PxStat table VSA29.
| Cause of death | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malignant melanoma of skin (C43) | 158 | 173 | 193 | 198 |
| Other malignant neoplasms of skin (C44) | 104 | 85 | 100 | 103 |
| Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (L00-L99) | 50 | 72 | 85 | 79 |
| Cellulitis (L03) | 25 | 36 | 40 | 35 |
Melanoma deaths registered in Ireland rose from 158 in 2019 to 198 in 2023, an increase of 25% in four years, calculated from the CSO table above. Adding the two skin cancer categories together gives 301 registered deaths in 2023, also calculated from CSO table VSA29. Non-cancerous skin disease is a smaller but real cause of death, accounting for 79 registered deaths in 2023, of which 35 were cellulitis.
Men fare considerably worse once diagnosed. The NCRI found that men are 1.6 times more likely than women to die from melanoma, and 2.3 times more likely to die from non-melanoma skin cancer. Source: NCRI, March 2025. That gap sits alongside a clear difference in prevention habits, covered in the next section.
Sunburn, Sunscreen and Sunbeds
The most striking recent movement in Irish skin health data is sunburn among young adults. A SunSmart survey of 1,000 adults run for the HSE National Cancer Control Programme and Healthy Ireland found that 84% of people aged 18 to 24 had been sunburnt at least once in the past year, up from 73% in 2024 and 66% in 2023. Teenagers and young adults were also the least likely to use protective measures beyond sunscreen and the most likely to use sunbeds. The same reporting notes that just three episodes of severe sunburn before the age of 20 more than doubles the risk of melanoma in adulthood. Source: Irish Times, April 2026.
Children are exposed early. A nationally representative study of 10,271 schoolchildren aged 10 to 17, published in the International Journal of Public Health, found that 90% had been sunburnt at some point in their lives and 74% in the previous year, while 3% reported never using any form of sun protection. Applying sunscreen and wearing sunglasses were the most common protective measures, and indoor tanning bed use was reported by around 5% of children. Source: Költő et al., International Journal of Public Health, 2021. The Irish Skin Foundation’s summary of the same research reported that 17% of schoolchildren never use sunscreen and that 32% avoid peak ultraviolet hours. Source: Irish Skin Foundation, 2020.
Among adults, the Healthy Ireland Survey found that 86% frequently use at least one method of sun protection during the Irish summer, most commonly sunscreen of at least factor 30 (62%), followed by long sleeves, a hat or sunglasses (60%) and limiting time in the sun (40%). The gender gap is wide: 75% of women use factor 30 or higher regularly against 49% of men. On sunbeds, 18% of adults have used one at some point in their life, 3% use them currently, and current use is highest among women under 45 at 6%. A further 4% say they are likely to try a sunbed in future, rising to 7% of those aged 15 to 34. Source: Healthy Ireland Survey 2022. Commercial sunbed use by under-18s has been prohibited since the Public Health (Sunbeds) Act 2014.
Eczema in Ireland
Atopic eczema is one of the most common chronic conditions in Irish childhood. The Irish Skin Foundation puts prevalence at 1 in 5 children and 1 in 10 adults, and notes that eczema often runs in families alongside hay fever and asthma. Source: Irish Skin Foundation. For most affected children the condition is mild, but the moderate to severe end of the range carries a heavy daily burden.
The foundation’s Living with Atopic Eczema survey of 454 people, run between September 2018 and April 2019, put numbers on that burden. 86% of children and 84% of adults with eczema reported ongoing sleep disturbance. More than a quarter of parents (26%) said their child missed one to two school days a month because of eczema. Some 34% of children and 65% of adults avoided exercise and sport, and 52% of adults avoided social activities altogether. The financial strain is substantial: 42% of carers of children and 49% of adults reported cutting back on household expenses, and roughly a quarter spend at least €2,300 a year on doctor’s fees, products and treatments. Source: Irish Skin Foundation, September 2019.
Psoriasis in Ireland
Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory condition affecting at least 73,000 people in Ireland, close to 2% of the population, with roughly 9,000 of those living with severe disease. Plaque psoriasis accounts for about 90% of cases, and almost 80% of people with psoriasis experience scalp involvement at some point in their lives. Source: Irish Skin Foundation.
Psoriasis is frequently more than a skin condition. Psoriatic arthritis affects an estimated 0.3% to 1% of the general population, but studies indicate that up to 42% of people with psoriasis can develop accompanying psoriatic arthritis. For most patients the skin condition appears around ten years before the joint symptoms, though about 16% develop joint problems first and roughly 15% develop both together. Peak onset of psoriatic arthritis falls between the ages of 35 and 45. Source: Irish Skin Foundation. Psoriasis is also recorded as an underlying cause of death in a small number of cases each year, five in 2023, per CSO table VSA29.
The Dermatology Bottleneck
Demand for skin care in Ireland runs well ahead of capacity. A health technology assessment published by HIQA in 2026 found that more than 60,000 patients were waiting for a dermatology appointment as of June 2025, with some people waiting up to three years for a routine appointment. Irish dermatology services receive about 100,000 new referrals from primary care every year and complete roughly 150,000 outpatient appointments, two-thirds of which are return visits rather than new patients. Source: HIQA assessment, reported by the Irish Times, April 2026.
The projection is the part that should concentrate minds. On current conditions, HIQA found the dermatology waiting list could exceed 370,000 people within a decade. The assessment concluded that teledermatology, where a GP sends images for specialist review, is safe and effective when built into a complete clinical pathway, and estimated it would cost an additional €2.7 million over ten years while allowing 270,000 more patients to be managed. HIQA also identified an urgent need to recruit more consultant dermatologists. Source: Irish Times, April 2026. Waits are not evenly spread: in the HSE West and North West region, more than one in five dermatology patients had been waiting over three years as of June 2026. Source: Roscommon Herald, August 2026.
Method and Sources
Every figure on this page was checked against its primary source in September 2026. Skin cancer incidence, survival and trend figures come from the National Cancer Registry Ireland’s Cancer Trends No. 42 report, published March 2025. Death counts come from the CSO’s PxStat table VSA29, drawn from the Vital Statistics Annual Report series; the four-year melanoma increase and the combined skin cancer death total are described as calculated because we derived them from that table. Eczema and psoriasis prevalence and burden figures come from the Irish Skin Foundation and its Living with Atopic Eczema survey. Schoolchildren’s sun behaviour comes from the peer-reviewed HBSC Ireland analysis in the International Journal of Public Health; adult sun protection and sunbed figures from the Healthy Ireland Survey 2022. Waiting list and service figures come from HIQA’s health technology assessment as reported by the Irish Times in April 2026, and are labelled as press reporting of that assessment. The page will next be reviewed when the NCRI publishes its next skin cancer trends report and when the CSO publishes the Vital Statistics Annual Report 2024. If you notice a new, changing or unusual mole or skin lesion, contact your GP; this page is a reference resource and not medical advice.
How Salt Cave Paradise Helps
Salt Cave Paradise is a wellness centre in Balbriggan, County Dublin, and a good share of our visitors come to us because living with eczema or psoriasis is tiring, itchy and stressful. A session in a warm, quiet salt room is a comfortable hour out of the day, nothing more and nothing less. Halotherapy is a complementary relaxation practice, not a treatment for any skin disease, and it has no role whatsoever in the detection or treatment of skin cancer, which is a matter for your GP and dermatology services. If you would like to see what a session involves, you can read how visitors with eczema and psoriasis describe it, browse our wider skin conditions pages, or book a session online.
