Around four out of five people (79%) aged 15 and over were satisfied with how democracy works in Ireland, compared with the EU average of 58% in 2025.
In 2025, over one-third (37.5%) of individuals in very good general health rated their overall life satisfaction as being high, in contrast to 7.8% of individuals in bad or very bad general health.
Looking at housing, there were 7,856 new dwelling completions in Q1 2026, a 33% increase on Q1 2025, at 5,911 new dwelling completions.
The at risk of poverty rate after rent and mortgage interest was 45.2% for rented households, compared to 6.3% for owner occupied households with an outstanding mortgage in 2025.
The employment rate in Q1 2026 is 73.3% for males and 69.3% for females.
The general net government worth remained negative at -€88 billion in Q4 2025, a 30% decrease on the Q4 2023 value of -€127 billion.
The statistics on the CSO’s Well-being Information Hub have been derived from a wide range of sources, mainly from the CSO, but also sources across the government system. More detailed information on each indicator can be found in the relevant tables and releases. Due to the long-term nature of the indicators, some may not be current.
The CSO Well-being Information Hub includes the following domains:
| Sarah Crilly | (+353) 21 453 5085 |
|---|---|
| socialcohesion@cso.ie | |
| pressoffice@cso.ie |
-- ENDS --
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (18 June 2026) published an update to our Well-being Information Hub, which reports on the well-being of the nation.
Commenting on the CSO Well-being Information Hub, Sarah Crilly, Statistician in the Social Cohesion and Sustainable Development Goals Division, said: “The Well-being Information Hub contains 35 indicators across 11 domains which include the economy, the environment, and our society with equality and sustainability aspects. It attempts to answer essential questions such as how we are doing as a country, as communities, and as individuals. This latest update of the CSO Well-Being Information Hub provides a broadly positive picture of life in Ireland, with the majority of indicators improving or remaining consistent over the medium term. In addition, the indicators generally compare well with the equivalent EU indicators.
For more information on how the Government uses the Well-being indicators please see the Well-being Framework for Ireland on gov.ie.”
Highlights from the Well-being Information Hub
Social
In 2025, 17.2% of 25 to 49 year olds felt lonely at least sometime in the two weeks prior to interview, compared with 12.8% of 50 to 64 year olds. In 2025, 27.7 % of males and 25.5% of females rated their overall life satisfaction as being high. Less than two-thirds (62.4%) of those aged 45 to 54 years had at least three people to count on if they had a serious problem, compared with 72.5% of those aged 75 years and over.
Healthy Life Years (HLY) at birth measures the number of years that a person at birth is expected to live in a healthy condition. In 2023, the number of HLY was similar for males and females, at 66.0 and 66.2 years.
Economic
In Q1 2026, the labour underutilisation rate of people aged 15 years and over was 12.3%. It was lower for males at 10.3% and higher for females at 14.4%. The rate includes the number of people classified as unemployed, plus those classified as part-time under-employed, and those outside the labour force who are available for work but not seeking work as a percentage share of the total labour force. In Q1 2026, 11.7% of males and 3.0% of females in employment usually worked more than 49 hours per week in their main job. It was highest for those in the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing sector, at 39.9%.
The at risk of poverty rate after rent and mortgage interest was 45.2% for rented households, compared with 6.3% for owner occupied households with outstanding mortgage in 2025. The median real household disposable income was €62,722 when the head of household was employed, compared with €29,176 when the head of household was unable to work due to long-standing health problems in 2025.
In 2025, 19.8% of households with one adult and children under 18 years had great difficulty in making ends meet, compared to 2.6% of households with two adults, where one was at least 65 years and over.
Environment
Regarding housing and the built environment, there were 7,856 new dwelling completions in Q1 2026, a 33% increase on Q1 2025, at 5,911 new dwelling completions. In Q1 2026, there were 6,713 dwelling completions in urban areas and 1,143 dwelling completions in rural areas.
Total greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalent) without land use, land-use change and forestry, fell by 11% between 2018 and 2023, down from 61.6 million tonnes to 54.9 million tonnes. The proportion of waste that was sent to landfill was 21.6% for the EU 27 countries, compared with 14.4% in Ireland in 2023.