Measuring Ireland's Progress 2013

• Ireland had the highest percentage of population in the EU in 2012 at risk of poverty, before pensions and social transfers, at 50.4%.
• However the at risk of poverty rate in Ireland, (after pensions and social transfers), of 15.7%, was lower than the average EU rate of 16.9%.
• The lowest at risk of poverty rate (after pensions and social transfers) in the EU was in the Czech Republic at 9.6% while the highest rate was 23.1% in Greece.
• The at risk of poverty rate in Ireland, as calculated by Eurostat, has declined from over 20% in 2003 to 15.7% in 2012, (see chart for data.)

• The at risk of poverty rate in Ireland was 15.2% in 2013,  with just under one in six of the population at risk of poverty.
• The at risk of poverty rate was highest  for those aged under 18, with 17.9% of this age group at risk of poverty. People aged 65 and over had an at risk of poverty risk of just over half this rate, at 9.2%.
• The consistent poverty rate was 8.2% in 2013. An individual is considered to be in consistent poverty when they are at risk of poverty and are also experiencing enforced deprivation, (see Appendix 1).
• Just under one in eight children (11.7%) were in consistent poverty in Ireland in 2013 while the rate for those aged 65 and over was 1.9%.

• Over three out of every ten (31.7%) Irish households composed of one adult with children aged under 18 were at risk of poverty in 2013. The consistent poverty rate for these households was 23%.
• Households with three or more adults and children aged under 18 had an at risk of poverty rate of just under a quarter while the consistent poverty rate for these households was 15%.
• Single person households where the person were aged under 65 also had high rates of at risk of poverty (27.2%) and consistent poverty (14.5%).
• The lowest at risk of poverty rates and consistent poverty rates were for households composed of two adults where at least one was aged 65 or over. 8.7% of these households were at risk of poverty and just 1.5% were in consistent poverty.

• Over a third (36.7%) of Irish households where the the head of household was unemployed were at risk of poverty in 2013. These households also had a high rate of consistent povery at 23.9%.
• In contrast, households where the head of household was at work had an at risk of poverty rate of 5% and and a consistent poverty rate of just 2%.

• Female employees were paid 14.4% an hour less than male employees in Ireland in 2012. This gave Ireland the tenth lowest gender pay gap in the EU in 2012, when the average EU gender pay gap was 16.4%.
• Of those EU countries for which data was available in 2012, Slovenia had the lowest gender pay gap at 2.5% while Estonia had the highest at 30%.

• Net official development assistance in Ireland as a percentage of Gross National Income (GNI) was 0.45% in 2013, and was the eighth highest in the EU.
• In 2013 the Irish contribution was below the UN 2007 target of 0.7%.
• Four EU countries (Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark, and the United Kingdom) and Norway exceeded the UN target in 2013.
• Net official development assistance in Ireland as a percentage of Gross National Income (GNI) increased from 0.36% of GNI in 2004 to 0.57% in 2008 before falling to 0.43% in 2013, (see graph).

• Over four-fifths of all private households in Ireland had internet access in 2013, compared to 67% in 2009.
• Four countries - the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark and Sweden - had household internet access rates of more than 90% in 2013.
• The lowest rate for household internet access was in Bulgaria at 54%.
• Ireland had the eighth highest rate of internet access for households in the EU in 2013 at 82% while the EU average rate was 79%.

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