In the 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 at the household level. In March 2026, the CSO published Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) Enforced Deprivation 2025 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 2025, 44.8% of households said they had at least some difficulty in making ends meet, with 6.4% of households reporting that they make ends meet ‘with great difficulty’. Analysis by the presence of a household member (aged 16 years and older) with a long-standing activity limitation due to health problems shows that about six in ten (61.6%) households with a ‘severely limited’ member had at least some difficulty in making ends meet, with 17.9% reporting ‘with great difficulty’, an increase of nearly five percentage points from 2024 (13.0%). Of households without an activity limited member, 39.0% had at least some difficulty in making ends meet and 3.6% reported that they make ends meet ‘with great difficulty’. See figure 4.1 and table 4.1.
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:
Among households that own 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, 15.2% of these households failed at least once to make their mortgage/rent payment on time, 3.8% had failed once, and a further 11.4% failed twice or more. The comparable rates for households without limited members were 1.7% (failed once) and 4.2% (failed twice or more). See figure 4.2 and table 4.2.
For 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 6.3% failing to make a utility bill payment by due date on two or more occasions. See SILC Enforced Deprivation 2025.
Of these households with a ‘severely limited’ member, 16.8% 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 5.8%. In the 12-month period before they were interviewed, 2.3% of households with a ‘severely limited’ member fell into arrears on utility bill payments on one occasion, with a further 14.5% failing to make a utility bill payment by due date on two or more occasions. See figure 4.3 and table 4.3.
In 2025, 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 nearly four percentage points higher than the comparable rate for 2024 (16.8% and 12.9% respectively). In 2025, 2.3% of households with a ‘severely limited’ member failed to make a utility bill payment by due date on one occasion, up from 1.4% in 2024. See figure 4.4 and table 4.4.
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 2025, over a quarter (26.6%) of households said that housing costs were ’a heavy burden’. Of households with a ‘severely limited’ member, just over four in ten of the households (42.2%) reported that housing costs were a ‘heavy burden’. This was over double the rate for households where all household members were ‘not limited’ (20.9%). See figure 4.5 and table 4.4.
Overall, there was nearly a three percentage point decrease in the percentage of households that reported housing costs as a heavy burden in 2025 when compared with 2024 (26.6% and 29.5% respectively). See figure 4.6 and table 4.4.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
