Press Statement

Preasráiteas

12 February 2021

Go to release: Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) Report on Household Amenities and Access to Services 2004-2019

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (12 February 2021) issued results from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) Report on Household Amenities and Access to Services 2004-2019.

Commenting on the report, Eva O’Regan, Statistician, said: “Each year since 2004, the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) collects data from households in Ireland. Some results relating to possession of various household appliances and dwelling features are published in this release, illustrating how homes in Ireland have changed in the last 16 years. Also included is data on a household’s ability to access various services, collected from 2011 to 2019.

Household Amenities and Local Environment

Ownership of a fixed line telephone has fallen steadily over the past 16 years – in 2004, 86.9% of households had a fixed line telephone in their home, falling to 59.2% in 2019. Meanwhile, 74.9% of individuals aged 16 and over owned a mobile phone in 2004, increasing to 97.1% in 2019.

In 2004, one in two households (50.5%) possessed a computer in their home, increasing to more than three in four (77.9%) in 2019. More than four in five households (83.5%) owned a DVD player in 2011, falling to just over three in five (63.2%) in 2019.

The proportion of households with a satellite dish has doubled since 2004, going from 28.6% to 61.1% in 2019. Furthermore, the share of households that have double or triple glazing in their dwelling has also increased steadily from 70.5% in 2004 to 94.2% in 2019.

The share of households saying they had problems with crime, violence or vandalism in their local area has fallen from a high of 16.1% in 2006 to 8.2% in 2019. This figure was higher for households in urban areas, at 10.2% in 2019, compared with 4.0% in rural areas. The proportion of households with a burglar alarm in their home increased from 27.5% in 2004 to 45.9% in 2019.

The proportion of households having problems with noise from the street or from neighbours was 8.3% in 2019, with 10.7% of households in urban areas having such problems compared with 3.2% of those in rural areas. In 2019, 6.0% of households said they had problems with pollution, grime or other environmental problems caused by traffic or industry in their local area, compared with 9.0% in 2004.

Access to Services

Between 2011 and 2019, respondents were asked about their self-perceived ease in accessing local services. The proportion of rural households with great difficulty accessing public transport increased from 23.4% in 2011 to 27.9% in 2019, whereas the proportion for urban households remained the same in 2011 and 2019, at 3.0% both years.

In 2019, 11.3% of rural households said they had great difficulty accessing primary health care services (such as a General Practitioner (GP), a primary health centre, a casualty department or similar, where first-aid treatment could be received), compared with 2.4% of urban households. Rural households were also more likely than urban households to report having great difficulty accessing a shop, 8.4% and 1.4% respectively.

The proportion of rural households having great difficulty access a bank increased from 9.8% in 2011 to 15.5% in 2019, the corresponding figure for urban households was 2.5% in 2011 and 2.7% in 2019.  In 2011, 6.0% of rural households had great difficulty accessing a post office, increasing to 10.4% in 2019; compared with 1.8% of urban households in 2011 and 1.7% in 2019.”

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