The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) is a household survey covering a broad range of topics related to income and living conditions. It is the official source of data on household and individual income and provides key national poverty indicators, such as the at risk of poverty rate, the consistent poverty rate, and rates of enforced deprivation. In addition to the core variables collected annually, SILC survey also collects supplementary variables each year on topics selected by Eurostat. For further information on the methodology used in the production of SILC results please refer to the main Background Notes.
The figures published in this report relate to the three-year rolling module on “Health”, which focuses on access to healthcare; the financial burden of healthcare; and determinants of health. Household-related questions were collected from the head of household, while personal questions were asked of all individuals aged 16 years and over living in respondent households. These data were also collected in SILC 2022.
Table 7.1 describes the health-related items collected in the 2025 SILC and which people and households were asked these supplementary questions.
| Health Variable | Answer Options | Questions asked of: |
|---|---|---|
|
Financial burden of medical care i.e. medical examination or treatment excluding medicines in the past 12 months |
A heavy burden Somewhat a burden Not a burden at all |
Households with at least one person who needed/had medical examination or treatment in the past 12 months |
|
Financial burden of dental care i.e. dental examinations or dental treatments in the past 12 months |
A heavy burden Somewhat a burden Not a burden at all |
Households with at least one person who needed/had dental examination or treatment in the past 12 months |
|
Financial burden of medicines, prescribed and non-prescribed over the counter medicines in the past 12 months |
A heavy burden Somewhat a burden Not a burden at all |
Households with at least one person who needed/used medicines in the past 12 months |
|
Number of consultations with a general practitioner or family doctor in the past 12 months |
None 1-2 times 3-5 times 6-9 times 10 times of more |
Persons aged 16 years and over |
|
Number of consultations with a medical or surgical specialist (excluding dentists, orthodontists or other dental care specialists) in the past 12 months |
None 1-2 times 3-5 times 6-9 times 10 times of more |
Persons aged 16 years and over |
|
Number of consultations of a dentist or orthodontist or other dental care specialist in the last 12 months |
None 1-2 times 3-5 times 6-9 times 10 times of more |
Persons aged 16 years and over |
|
Frequency of physical activities i.e. how often do sports, fitness and recreational (leisure) physical activity for at least 10 minutes continuously |
Twice or more a day Once a day 4 to 6 times a week 1 to 3 times a week Less than once a week None |
Persons aged 16 years and over |
|
Type of physical activity while working |
Mostly sitting Mostly standing Mostly walking or tasks of moderate physical effort Mostly heavy labour or physically demanding work |
Persons aged 16 years and over |
|
Frequency eating fruit in a typical week |
Twice or more a day Once a day 4 to 6 times a week 1 to 3 times a week Less than once a week None |
Persons aged 16 years and over |
|
Frequency eating vegetables or salad in a typical week |
Twice or more a day Once a day 4 to 6 times a week 1 to 3 times a week Less than once a week None |
Persons aged 16 years and over |
|
Frequency using tobacco products in the past 12 months including water pipes, heated tobacco, chewing tobacco, etc., or any other related products such as electronic cigarettes |
Yes, daily Yes, a few times a week Yes, a few times a month Yes, a few times a year Not at all |
Persons aged 16 years and over
|
|
Frequency having alcoholic drinks of any kind in the past 12 months example beer, wine, cider, spirits, cocktails, premixes, liquor, homemade alcohol |
Yes, daily Yes, a few times a week Yes, a few times a month Yes, a few times a year Not at all |
Persons aged 16 years and over
|
Sex. Male or female, as reported by the respondent.
Age group. Age in completed years at the date of interview, grouped into bands.
From 2020 the question on Principal Economic Status was standardised under Regulation (EU) 2019/1700. The categories are:
For the purposes of deriving household composition, a child was defined as any member of the household aged 17 or under. Households were analysed as a whole, regardless of the number of family units within the household. The categories of household composition are:
Self-perceived general health. The person's assessment of their health in general. For households level analysis the health status of the person in the household with the worst self-perceived general health status was attributed to the household’s general health status.
A measure of self-perceived general health is also assigned to each respondent household to support the analysis of household-level variables in relation to household health. The household’s general health status is determined by the poorest self-perceived general health reported by any household member aged 16 years or older.
Medical Card: Whether the respondent has a medical card or a GP visit card.
Health Insurance: Whether the respondent has private health insurance.
This is the share of persons with an equivalised income below a given percentage (usually 60%) of the national median income. The rate is calculated by ranking persons by equivalised income from smallest to largest and then extracting the median or middle value. Anyone with an equivalised income of less than 60% of the median is considered at risk of poverty at a 60% level.
Results in this publication report households and people in those:
"Not at risk of poverty"
"At risk of poverty"
Households that are excluded and marginalised from consuming goods and services which are considered the norm for other people in society, due to an inability to afford them, are considered to be deprived. The identification of the marginalised or deprived is currently achieved on the basis of a set of eleven basic deprivation indicators. Individuals who experience two or more of the eleven listed items are considered to be experiencing enforced deprivation. This is the basis for calculating the deprivation rate.
Results in this publication report households and people broken down into those:
The consistent poverty measure looks at those persons who are defined as being at risk of poverty and experiencing enforced deprivation (experiencing two or more types of deprivation).
An individual is defined as being in ‘consistent poverty’ if they are
Results in this publication report households and people in those:
When treated as a categorical variable, the equivalised income quintile is an ordered categorical (ordinal) variable consisting of five distinct, ranked levels.
By applying the Irish national equivalence scale—which accounts for household economies of scale by giving a weight of 1.0 to the first adult, 0.66 to subsequent individuals aged 14+, and 0.33 to children under 14—the Central Statistics Office (CSO) converts continuous household incomes into an ordinal category for every individual.
Household net disposable income quintiles are used to analyse household-level variables across the income distribution. Household net disposable income is the total income received by all household members, including social transfers, after deducting taxes and social insurance contributions.
Households are ranked from lowest to highest according to their net disposable income and divided into five groups, each representing 20% of households, taking account of survey weights. Each household is assigned to one of these groups. When used as a categorical variable, household income quintile is an ordered categorical variable with five ranked levels:
These quintiles allow comparisons of household characteristics and outcomes across the household income distribution.
Statistics on health in Ireland are available from several data sources, and estimates for similar topics may differ between them. These differences arise mainly from the purpose, design and questions of each survey rather than from real differences in the health of the population.
The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) collects health information primarily to examine the relationship between health and income, poverty and living conditions. The Irish Health Survey (IHS) is a dedicated CSO source of official statistics on population health. Users seeking detailed estimates of health status, health care use and health determinants, including harmonised European comparisons, should consult the IHS. SILC also provides harmonised health indicators suitable for EU comparisons, particularly in relation to income and living conditions. The notes below compare SILC with the IHS and briefly describe the Healthy Ireland Survey, which is conducted on behalf of the Department of Health.
SILC collects three questions on general health status (the Minimum European Health Module) every year. Under the framework established by Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, SILC also includes a health module every three years, from 2022. The module covers health care use, the financial burden of health care, and health determinants such as diet, physical activity, and alcohol and tobacco consumption. Because health information is collected alongside detailed income and household information, SILC allows health indicators to be analysed by income, poverty status and deprivation.
The Irish Health Survey (IHS) is conducted by the CSO and is Ireland's implementation of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS). It provides data on health status, use of health care and health determinants, comparable across EU Member States. The IHS was conducted in 2015 and 2019 and has run annually since 2024, with 2025 forming part of the fourth wave of the EHIS. It collects information on persons aged 15 and over living in private households.
The Healthy Ireland Survey is commissioned by the Department of Health and conducted by Ipsos B&A. It has run annually since 2015, and interviews approximately 7,500 people aged 15 and over each year by telephone. The survey monitors health behaviours and supports the Healthy Ireland Framework, with some topics included every year and others rotating on a two- to four-year cycle.
The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) Background Notes and the Irish Health Survey (IHS) Background Notes show the differences in who is sampled, who answers the questions, how the questions are asked and when data are collected. Each of these can affect estimates.
Population coverage. SILC’s individual health indicators generally cover persons aged 16 and over, whereas the IHS covers persons aged 15 and over. Comparisons should use the same age range wherever possible. Both surveys focus on private households, so their estimates do not necessarily represent people living in institutional settings.
Who answers. In SILC, information may be provided by another household member when a person is not available. Proxy respondents may not know the health or habits of others in detail, which can affect results for questions on behaviour and health status.
Mode of collection. People may report behaviours perceived as healthier or more socially acceptable more readily to an interviewer than when completing a questionnaire themselves. SILC is interviewer-administered, while recent rounds of the IHS have primarily used online self-completion.
Questionnaire context. Questions asked within a health survey may be answered differently from the same questions asked within a survey on income and living conditions.
Timing. Some behaviours, such as eating fruit and vegetables or physical activity, vary by season. Surveys collected at different times of year may therefore give different results.
Sampling and weighting. Estimates are subject to sampling variability and may also be affected by differences in sampling methods, response rates and weighting procedures.
The design of both the IHS and the Healthy Ireland Survey has changed over time, which should be considered when comparing across years. The IHS used paper questionnaires in 2015 and a household sample drawn from the General Household Survey in 2019. The Healthy Ireland Survey moved from face-to-face to telephone interviews from 2021.
The general health questions are the most comparable between SILC and the IHS, as both use the same standard EU questions. Indicators on health care use and on health behaviours are less comparable, because the questions and the way indicators are derived differ.
| Indicator | SILC | Irish Health Survey | Comparability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visits to a general practitioner or medical or surgical specialist |
Number of consultations in the past 12 months, in bands (none, 1–2, 3–5, 6–9, 10 or more). Specialist visits exclude dental care |
Time since last visit, and number of visits in the past four weeks |
Not directly comparable. The reference periods differ (12 months compared with four weeks). The share of people with any visit in the past 12 months can be compared broadly. |
| Visits to a dentist or orthodontist |
Number of consultations in the past 12 months, in the same bands |
Time since last visit |
Only the share of people with any visit in the past 12 months can be compared. |
| Fruit consumption |
How often the person eats fruit, excluding any juice |
How often the person eats fruit, excluding juice squeezed from fresh fruit or made from concentrate; frozen, dried and canned fruit included. Five categories from "once or more a day" to "never" |
Very similar questions. Differences arise from different answer options (e.g. two daily consumption options in SILC), proxy responses, mode of collection, questionnaire context and the time of year data are collected. |
| Vegetable consumption |
How often the person eats vegetables or salad, excluding potatoes, vegetable juices and soups |
How often the person eats vegetables or salad, excluding potatoes, juices and soups; frozen, dried and canned vegetables included. Same five categories as for fruit |
Very similar questions, with the same exclusions for potatoes, juices and soups. Differences arise from the same factors as for fruit. |
| Physical activity |
Time spent on physical activity in a typical week, and physical activity at work |
Detailed questions on activity at work, for transport and in leisure time, including muscle-strengthening activity |
Not directly comparable. Questions cover different types of activity. |
| Tobacco use |
How often the person used tobacco in the past 12 months, including electronic cigarettes and similar devices (daily, a few times a week, a few times a month, a few times a year, not at all) |
Current smoking of tobacco products (daily, occasionally, not at all), with use of electronic cigarettes asked separately |
Not directly comparable. SILC combines tobacco and electronic cigarettes in one question and uses a 12-month reference period, while the IHS measures current smoking. |
| Alcohol consumption |
How often the person drank any alcoholic drink in the past 12 months (daily, a few times a week, a few times a month, a few times a year, not at all) |
How often the person drank alcohol in the past 12 months, using more detailed categories, with further questions on amounts and heavy drinking occasions |
Not directly comparable. SILC does not measure the amount consumed. |
SILC also collects information on the financial burden of health care at household level. These indicators refer to households where someone in the household bore the relevant cost in the past 12 months. They have no direct equivalent in the IHS, which collects health information at individual level.
The Healthy Ireland Survey asks its own questions on general health, chronic conditions and lifestyle, which may differ in wording, response categories and reference period from the EU standard questions used in SILC and the IHS. Results from the Healthy Ireland Survey are therefore not directly comparable with SILC estimates.
Each survey is best suited to particular uses:
Differences in estimated levels between sources are expected. Patterns across groups, such as differences by income or age, are generally more consistent between surveys than overall levels. Users comparing estimates across sources should take account of differences in questions, age coverage and reference periods, and should also allow for sampling error in each survey.
Responses to the 2022 SILC health module may have been influenced by COVID-19 restrictions and their continuing effects on daily life and health services. SILC data were collected during the first six months of 2022. Questions referring to the previous 12 months therefore covered varying periods of restrictions in 2021 and early 2022, including, for some respondents, the Level 5 lockdown in early 2021. Service disruption, postponed appointments and concerns about infection may have reduced health care use or contributed to unmet needs. Restrictions on movement, closures of sports and leisure facilities, and changes to working arrangements may also have affected physical activity by limiting opportunities for exercise and reducing commuting, although some people may have increased their walking, local outdoor exercise or home-based activity. Changes in shopping, household finances and time spent at home may have influenced fruit and vegetable consumption, while stress, social isolation and changes in socialising opportunities may have affected tobacco and alcohol consumption. These effects may have differed across population groups, and observed differences should not be attributed to the pandemic alone.
The Central Statistics Office wishes to thank the participating households for their co-operation in agreeing to take part in the SILC survey and for facilitating the collection of the relevant data.
For further information on this release:
E-mail ICW@CSO.ie or contact Cian Martin (+353) 21 453 5298, or Brian Cahill (+353) 21 453 5173
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