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Households

Households

The Household Saving rate was 19.1% in Quarter 1 2026

Online ISSN: 2009-5600
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Revisions to the Household Saving Rate time-series

Following the Household Saving release of 12 June 2026, revised data published in the Annual National Accounts (ANA) 2025 of 02 July 2026 has resulted in an increased household saving rate. The revisions have had a notable effect on the time-series back to the COVID pandemic period. The seasonally adjusted average since the start of 2023 was previously recorded as 12.7%, while in the revised series it is now 18.5%.

Household saving is the difference between two much larger numbers and is calculated as household disposable income minus household consumption expenditure (or money into the household minus money out equals saving). The household saving rate is the euro value of saving in a period expressed as a percentage of the total disposable income. Because saving is smaller than income or expenditure, relatively small changes in the value of either income or expenditure (or both) can produce much larger changes in the saving value and the saving ratio.

As an example, if disposable income in a period was €10bn and consumption expenditure was €9bn then saving will be €1bn. But if income increases by 5% and expenditure decreases by 5%, then saving will almost double to €1.95bn (+95%).

In the recent Annual National Accounts, income has been revised upwards while expenditure has been revised downwards. The combination of these two revisions, going back several years with both moving in opposite directions, has led to the change in the level of household saving. The seasonally adjusted data series which includes Gross Disposable Income, Personal Consumption of Goods and Services and Gross Saving of the Household including Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) is available on PxStat. Only the most significant transactions are shown in the table for each sector in this release: the entire unadjusted series for all variables published in this release are also available at the same link. Price-adjusted Total Disposable Income and Final Consumption Expenditure of Households are shown in PxStat ISQ04.

For further details of revisions see Tables 4.1 and 4.2, as well as Figure 4.1, in the Background Notes.

Table 1.1 Seasonally Adjusted Gross Household Saving by Component (€million)
 Total Disposable Income (B.6g + D.8)Final Consumption Expenditure (P.3)Gross Saving Ratio
2025Q448,58039,47418.7%
2026Q149,57740,12319.1%

The seasonally adjusted household saving rate in the first quarter of 2026 was 19.1%. This was similar to the 18.7% rate in Quarter 4 2025 and to the 18.5% average since the start of 2023. As Table 1.1 above shows, while both seasonally adjusted income and expenditure rose in the quarter, there was a larger increase in income, leading to the higher saving rate.

The Annual National Accounts 2025, published on the 02 July 2026, contained upward revisions to household income and downward revisions to household expenditure. The combined effect of these revisions has led to an increase in the derived value of household saving and the household saving rate. These revisions are particularly notable from 2020 onwards. Further details of these downward revisions to PCE (affecting household consumption expenditure) and the upward revisions to wages and self-employed profits (affecting household income) are provided below and in the Background Notes of this release.

Households can use their savings to add to their wealth in the form of real assets (mainly new homes) and financial assets (such as bank deposits). Unadjusted, saving (B.8g) was €9.3bn in the quarter and capital spending (P.5) was €5.4bn. Households also increased their assets in pension funds (D.8) by €1bn. Figures from the Central Bank of Ireland show that households' net deposits into banks in Ireland rose by €2bn over Q4 2025. Loan liabilities of households to banks (mainly mortgages for house purchase) were up €0.9bn in the three months, meaning households borrowed more than they repaid. Households' financial assets also include other items such as life assurance funds and shares. Full accounts of assets and liabilities in financial instruments are published by the Central Bank.

Saving ratio
2022Q1 18.08%
2022Q2 17.91%
2022Q3 17.88%
2022Q4 15.74%
2023Q1 14.92%
2023Q2 16.49%
2023Q3 16.10%
2023Q4 15.26%
2024Q1 19.66%
2024Q2 17.17%
2024Q3 19.19%
2024Q4 22.74%
2025Q1 20.63%
2025Q2 19.73%
2025Q3 20.47%
2025Q4 18.74%
2026Q1 19.07%

Household Income

The largest component of household income is Compensation of Employees (COE): this made up almost €44bn of the €49bn unadjusted Total Disposable Income (TDI) in the quarter, which was €2.4bn higher (+5.7%) compared with 2025 Q1. The number employed was relatively flat but employed people had higher average earnings in the quarter compared with the previous quarter and a year earlier.

Comparing the equivalent quarter of 2025, before price or seasonal adjustment, higher take-home pay meant higher taxes (D.5) and PRSI (D.61) paid by households (see Table 1.2 below). Households also received more in social protection and pension payments (D.62).

Gross Disposable Income (B.6G) of households was €48bn in Q1 2026 before price and seasonal adjustment (that is, nominal unadjusted). This was an increase of almost €2bn (4.3%) on Q1 2025. TDI, which also includes the adjustment for the change in pension entitlements (D.8), was over €49bn in Q1 2026. After accounting for inflation and seasonal factors, household TDI in real terms grew by 1% in the twelve months and was also 1% higher compared to 2025 Q4 (see Pxstat table ISQ04). Figure 1.2 shows TDI before and after adjustments for the quarter.

TDI Current Price Unadjusted TDI Current Price Seasonally Adjusted TDI Constant Price Seasonally Adjusted
2020Q1 32.7318 33.10061 40.17034
2020Q2 32.3747 31.546 39.50968
2020Q3 31.40917 30.99655 38.30613
2020Q4 31.06795 31.92799 39.76393
2021Q1 32.13809 32.61473 39.89458
2021Q2 34.6627 33.77043 40.98939
2021Q3 35.67404 35.06352 42.06061
2021Q4 34.3978 35.39285 41.81047
2022Q1 35.49639 36.1048 41.52683
2022Q2 38.64236 37.65836 42.44839
2022Q3 39.7366 38.97391 43.46958
2022Q4 38.31844 39.43987 43.213
2023Q1 39.4207 40.08194 42.97916
2023Q2 42.51733 41.48472 43.50696
2023Q3 42.9449 42.14212 43.08729
2023Q4 41.4982 42.71559 43.62542
2024Q1 45.00276 45.56276 46.28755
2024Q2 45.5663 44.6013 44.97184
2024Q3 46.57611 45.80404 45.94917
2024Q4 47.23207 48.53049 49.0304
2025Q1 47.24137 47.68093 47.72148
2025Q2 48.92998 48.01706 47.76648
2025Q3 49.19448 48.42605 48.0048
2025Q4 47.29126 48.57963 47.71148
2026Q1 49.23889 49.57653 48.18957

Consumption

In Q1 2026 households' spending on goods and services was €40bn before price or seasonal adjustments, an increase of 5.9% on Q1 2025. When seasonal factors are taken into account, final consumption of households increased by 1.6% between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026. When the effect of price changes is also removed, the volume of consumption showed a smaller increase of 0.9% on Q4 2025.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows that prices for consumer goods and services at the end of the quarter (March 2026) were up 3.6% when compared with a year earlier (March 2025). The most significant increases in the 12 months to March 2026 were seen in Clothing & Footwear (+9.0%), Education Services (+8.9%) and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas & Other Fuels (+7.2%). Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (-0.9%) was the only division to show a decline when compared with March 2025.

A walk-through of unadjusted household income and consumption is shown in Figure 1.3 below with monetary additions or subtractions shown in the blue and green bars respectively. The orange bars show the main three balancing items of household gross disposable income (B.6G), household gross saving (B.8G) and household net lending/borrowing (B.9). The euro figure can be seen by hovering over the bar for each item and are also shown in Table 1.2 below. All values in Figure 1.3 and Table 1.2 are unadjusted, before price or seasonal adjustments.

#F68B58
X-axis label€billion
Paid employment43.725
plus Self-employment and rent12.421
plus Investment income received3.406
minus Interest paid after FISIM1.337
minus PAYE, income tax, etc.10.155
minus PRSI, pension contributions, etc.9.738
plus Social protection, pensions received10.701
minus net miscellaneous transfers0.787
equals Gross Disposable Income48.237
plus adjustment for pension fund value1.002
minus consumer spending39.915
equals Household Gross Saving9.324
plus net capital transfers0.320
minus capital spending5.438
equals Net Lending (+) / Borrowing (-)4.206
Table 1.2 S1M Households and NPISH Summary