An estimated 350,000 people say they provide unpaid help or assistance to people living in their homes or in other private households, a new survey has found.
A report on carers published by the Central Statistic Office (CSO) shows 8 per cent of adults aged over 15 are providing unpaid assistance to people with disabilities or suffering ill-health.
Some 64 per cent of carers are women and nearly half of all carers identified by the survey are aged between 45 and 64 years.
Four in ten carers look after a parent or parent in law and the same number are the sole carer for the person they are looking after.
A third of carers are caring for someone who needs care due to old age and a third of adults who provide help to someone in their own home say they have been caring for 10 years or more.
Two thirds of all carers say their own lives have been impacted because of their caring responsibilities. And 38 per cent of carers who look after someone in the same household reported feeling completely overwhelmed by their caring responsibilities.
Some 44 per cent of carers reported that the impact of caring was "confining" and 43 per cent said it had led to "family adjustment". The level of impact on a carer's own health increases in proportion to the number of hours providing help and assistance.
Some of the impacts cited by carers include their sleep being disturbed, physical strain, financial strain and emotional adjustments.
Carers who live in the same house as the person they are caring for are more likely to face negative impacts on their lives.
The survey was conducted by the CSO between July and September 2009. Some 21,500 people over 15 years of age answered questions on caring for the survey.