The chart below shows figures for attendances at hospital emergency care departments in Northern Ireland by age group in December 2016 and 2017.

The bar chart compares the percentages of citizens who experienced emergency care per 1000 -population between December 2016 and December 2017 at hospitals in Northern Ireland, categorized by age brackets.

It is clear that

the

overall

proportion of attendance saw a slight increase, in which the older people aged 75 and above are most likely to attend the service,

whereas

children aged between 5 and 15 years old are the least vulnerable group. In 2017, approximately 65% of patients in the emergency room were senior citizens aged 75 and more,

while

the figure rose to 70% a year later.

By contrast

, less than a quarter of teenagers among one thousand counterparts had to resort to emergency care, albeit a one-per cent growth over the period shown. Half of the people aged below five years old asked for the service in 2016, which grew by around five per cent after a year. With regard to the rest age brackets, the proportions of people aged 16 to 44, 45 to 74 and 65 to 74 ranged about 30%,

although

they increased marginally to varying degrees.