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Introduction and Summary of Main Results

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The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) in Ireland is a household survey covering a broad range of issues in relation to income and living conditions.  It is the official source of data on household and individual income and provides a number of key national poverty indicators, such as the at risk of poverty rate, the consistent poverty rate and rates of enforced deprivation.  This report presents the results for 2019 and comparable data for previous years.

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Table 1.1 Summary of main results
 201420152016201720182019
Income
Nominal household disposable income
Median35,30537,40138,95339,49942,86543,552
Mean43,06744,82746,31048,47651,45853,118
Nominal equivalised disposable income per individual
Median18,38519,46120,33120,86922,87223,979
Mean22,04122,98423,68224,98326,76627,941
At risk of poverty threshold     
(60% of median income)11,03111,67712,19912,52113,72314,387
Poverty & deprivation rates%%%%%%
At risk of poverty rate16.716.316.215.714.012.8
Deprivation rate128.925.421.018.815.117.8
Deprivation rate for those at risk of poverty49.751.950.442.840.342.7
Consistent poverty rate8.38.58.26.75.65.5
Income equality indicators
Gini coefficient (%)32.130.830.731.529.728.8
Income quintile share ratio5.14.74.74.84.44.1
1 Experienced two or more types of enforced deprivation.

The main results for SILC 2019 are presented below:

  • The at risk of poverty rate was 12.8% in 2019 compared with 14.0% in 2018. The change is not statistically significant.  The decrease from 15.7% in 2017 to 12.8% in 2019 is statistically significant.
  • Those most at risk of poverty in 2019 were individuals who were not at work due to illness or disability (37.5%) and those who were unemployed (35.4%).  This compares with an at risk of poverty rate of 4.6% for those that described their principal economic status as ‘at work’.
  • Enforced deprivation was experienced by 17.8% of the population, up from 15.1% in 2018.  This change is statistically significant. The deprivation rate for those at risk of poverty was 42.7% in 2019, up from 40.3% in 2018
  • The consistent poverty rate was 5.5%, this is not a statistically significant change on the 2018 figure of 5.6%.
  • By household composition, individuals living in households where there was one adult and one or more children aged under 18 had the highest consistent poverty rate at 17.1%.  The consistent poverty rate was lowest for individuals living in households composed of two or more adults, with at least one aged 65 or over, and no children (1.0%).
  • Consistent poverty rates decreased by age group.  Of those aged 0-17, 8.1% were in consistent poverty, compared with 5.1% of those aged 18-64 and 2.3% of persons aged 65 and over.
  • One in seven (13.5%) of those living in rented accommodation were defined as living in consistent poverty, compared with one in fifty (1.8%) of those living in owner-occupied accommodation
  • The nominal median household disposable income in 2019 was €43,552, an increase of 1.6% on the 2018 figure of €42,865.  This change is not statistically significant.
  • Households with three or more persons at work had the highest nominal median household disposable income (€95,613), compared with €24,173 for households with no one at work.
  • Household disposable income increased as the highest level of education attained by the head of household increased.  Where the head of household had an educational attainment of primary level or below the nominal median household disposable income was €26,527, compared with €66,811 for those with a third level degree or above
  • The nominal median equivalised disposable income was €23,979 representing an increase of 4.8% on the 2018 value of €22,872. This change is statistically significant.
  • The Gini coefficient in 2019 was 28.8% compared with 29.7% in 2018.  This change is not statistically significant, however, the change between 2017 (31.5%) and 2019 (28.8%) is statistically significant.
  • The quintile share ratio was 4.1 in 2019 compared with 4.4 in 2018.  This change is not statistically significant.  The change between 2017 (4.8) and 2019 (4.1) is statistically significant
At risk of poverty rate (%) Nominal Median equivalised disposable income (€ per individual)Nominal At risk of poverty threshold (60% of median income)
200419.4161289677
200518.31669710018
2006171761010566
200716.51979411876
200814.42075812455
200914.12010712064
201014.71859111155
2011161814810889
201216.91793710762
201316.21798310790
201416.71838511031
201516.31946111677
201616.22033112199
201715.72086912521
2018142287213723
201912.82397914387

Statbank Tables are here

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