There were 25,295 in-patient admissions to psychiatric hospitals, units and children's centres in 1998, according to the most recent report of the Health Research Board.
Of these, 25,165 were aged 16 or over - a rate of 933.8 per 100,000 of the adult population.
The report, "Activities of Irish Psychiatric Services 1998", was published yesterday by the Health Research Board as part of a series of annual reports produced by its National Psychiatric In-Patient Reporting System.
Patients admitted to psychiatric facilities for the first time numbered 7,137, which accounted for 28 per cent of the admissions for the year.
Of this number, 7,052 were aged 16 and over - a rate of 261.7 per 100,000 of the adult population. The figures show a continued decline in both overall and first-time admissions.
As in previous years, males had consistently higher admission rates than females.
Male admission rates were higher in each age category up to 64, with females having higher admission rates thereafter.
Single persons accounted for slightly more than half the number of admissions.
The admission rate for single males was over 1 1/2 times that of single females. Depressive disorders, alcoholic disorders and schizophrenia, combined, accounted for 68 per cent of all admissions.