Press Statement

Preasráiteas

28 November 2019

Go to release: Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2018

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (28 November 2019) issued results from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) for 2018 and comparable data for previous years.

Commenting on the report, Eva O’Regan, Statistician, said: “The SILC household survey is the official source of data on household and individual income, and it provides a number of key national poverty indicators, such as; the at risk of poverty rate, rate of enforced deprivation and the consistent poverty rate.

The key findings show that in 2018, the median annual household disposable income was €42,865, representing an increase of 8.5% on the 2017 value of €39,499. Mean household disposable income increased 6.2% from €48,476 in 2017 to €51,458 in 2018. 

Equivalised income is a measure of household income that takes account of the differences in household size and composition. Median equivalised income increased 9.6% from €20,869 in 2017 to €22,872 in 2018. Mean equivalised income increased 7.1% from €24,983 in 2017 to €26,766 in 2018.

The survey also provides insight into poverty in Ireland. The at risk of poverty rate, which is the share of persons whose equivalised income was less than 60% of the national median equivalised income, was 14.0% compared with 15.7% in 2017. 

Enforced deprivation is defined as not being able to afford two or more deprivation indicators; such as keeping the home adequately warm or buying presents for family/friends at least once a year. The percentage of people considered to be experiencing enforced deprivation was 15.1%, down from 18.8% in 2017.

The most common types of deprivation experienced by Irish households were; an inability to afford to replace worn out furniture (17.8%), to afford to have family or friends for a drink or a meal once a month (11.7%) and to afford a morning, afternoon or evening out in the last fortnight (10.3%).

Finally, the consistent poverty rate, which includes those persons who are defined as being both at risk of poverty and who are also experiencing enforced deprivation, was 5.6% down from 6.7% in 2017".

The increases in household and equivalised income outlined above were statistically significant, as was the decrease in enforced deprivation. The decreases in the at risk of poverty rate and consistent poverty rate were not statistically significant however, when compared to 2016 figures, the decreases were statistically significant.

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