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In the annual Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), questions related to the financial burden of housing costs, the level of difficulty in making ends meet, and arrears on mortgage, rental and other bill payments are asked of the head of the household. In March 2025, the CSO published Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) Enforced Deprivation 2024 that analysed these variables by demographic and other characteristics.
Questions related to activity limitations (the presence of long-standing activity limitation due to health problems measured via the Global Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI)) are asked at the individual level of survey respondents aged 16 years and older. The Editor's Note in the Key Findings section of this report describes the questions used to derive the GALI status of survey respondents aged 16 years and older.
In this chapter, the level of difficulty in making ends meet, the financial burden of housing costs, and arrears on mortgage, rental and utility bill payments are analysed by the presence of a person in the SILC household with a long-standing activity limitation. The disability status of the household is attributed according to the person aged 16 years and older with the most severe level of activity limitations.
Households were asked to rate their level of difficulty in making ends meet, with the answer options being:
In 2024, 46.2% of households said they had at least ‘some difficulty’ in making ends meet with 5.6% of households reporting that they make ends meet ‘with great difficulty’.
Analysis by the presence of a household member with a long-standing activity limitation due to health problems shows that about six in ten (60.9%) households with a ‘severely limited’ member had at least ‘some difficulty’ in making ends meet with 13.0% reporting ‘with great difficulty’. Of households without an activity limited member, 41.5% had at least ‘some difficulty’ in making ends meet and 3.6% reported that they make ends meet ‘with great difficulty’. The disability status of the household is attributed according to the person aged 16 years and older with the most severe level of activity limitations. See Figure 4.1 and PxStat table SIH05.
Households were asked if they had arrears (failed to make a payment in time due to financial difficulties) during the 12-month period prior to their date of interview. These questions related to arrears on mortgage or rental payments; utility bills; hire purchase instalments, or other loan payments. The three answer options for these questions were:
Analysis of households owned with a mortgage or rented, where at least one household member was ‘severely limited’ shows that in the 12-month period prior to their date of interview, 3.8% of these households failed once and a further 11.8% failed twice or more to make their mortgage/rent payment on time. The comparable rates for households without limited members were 2.4% (failed once) and 4.4% (failed twice or more). The disability status of the household is attributed according to the person aged 16 years and older with the most severe level of activity limitations. See Figure 4.2 and PxStat table SIH06.
In 2024 SILC, of households that pay utility bills, 8.3% had arrears on utility bills at some time during the 12-month period prior to their date of interview, with 6.2% failing to make a utility bill payment by due date on two or more occasions. See Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) Enforced Deprivation 2024.
Analysis of utility bill arrears by the GALI status of households shows that 12.9% of households with a ‘severely limited’ member had arrears (due to financial difficulties) on utility bills sometime in the 12-month period before they were interviewed. The comparable rate for households without limited members was 7.0%. In the 12-month period before they were interviewed, 1.4% of households with a ‘severely limited’ member fell into arrears on utility bill payments on one occasion, with a further 11.5% failing to make a utility bill payment by due date on two or more occasions. The disability status of the household is attributed according to the person aged 16 years and older with the most severe level of activity limitations. See Figure 4.3 and PxStat table SIH06.
In 2024, the percentage of households with a ‘severely limited’ household member that had arrears on utility bills at some time during the 12-month period prior to their interview date was over two percentage points lower than the comparable rate for 2023 (12.9% and 15.3% respectively). See Figure 4.4 and PxStat table SIH06.
Households were asked the extent to which housing costs (rent, mortgage, utility costs, home insurance, and regular maintenance and repair costs) are a financial burden to the household. The answer categories were ‘a heavy burden’; ‘somewhat a burden'; ’not a burden at all’.
In 2024, nearly three in ten (29.5%) of the households whose members were all over 16 years of age said that housing costs were ’a heavy burden’. Of households with a ‘severely limited’ member just over two fifths (41.4%) reported that housing costs were a ‘heavy burden’. This was over ten percentage points over the rate for households where all household members were ‘not limited’ (25.5%). The disability status of the household is attributed according to the person aged 16 years and older with the most severe level of activity limitations. See Figure 4.5, Table 4.1 and PxStat table SIH07.
Overall, there was a slight decrease in the percentage of households that reported housing costs as a heavy burden in 2024 when compared with 2023 (29.5% and 30.6% respectively). In 2024, 41.4% of households with a ‘severely limited’ member reported housing costs as a heavy burden, almost the same as the 2023 rate (40.9%). See Figure 4.6, Table 4.1 and PxStat table SIH07.
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