Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2020

In 2020, the ‘at risk of poverty’ rate was 13.2%. See table 3.1 & figure 3.1.

An individual is defined as being at risk of poverty if their nominal equivalised disposable income is under the at risk of poverty threshold, i.e. 60% of the median nominal equivalised disposable income.  See At Risk of Poverty Indicators Explained (PDF 717KB)  .

An analysis by socio-demographic characteristics showed that those most at risk of poverty in 2020 were those individuals who were Unable to work due to long-standing health problems (33.4%) and individuals who were Unemployed (33.2%). This compares with an at risk of poverty rate of 6.5% for those that described their principal economic status as Employed. 

The at risk of poverty rate for individuals in households with One adult and one or more children aged under 18 was 31.0%, compared with 4.5% for persons in households composed of Two adults, where at least one is aged 65 or over and there are no children under 18.

In 2020, if all social transfers were excluded from income, the at risk of poverty rate would have been 36.5%.  Social transfers include income from Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) sources such as jobseekers related payments, state pension, family and children related allowances, as well as other state supports such as education related allowances and housing allowances (see  for full details). See table 3.3. & figure 3.4.

In 2020, 14.3% of the population were defined as living in enforced deprivation, i.e. experienced two or more of the eleven types of deprivation.

The deprivation rate for those at risk of poverty was 35.3% in 2020 compared with 11.1% for those not at risk of poverty. See table 3.3.

Types of deprivation experienced

The most commonly experienced item of deprivation in 2020 was the Inability to afford to replace any worn out furniture (16.2%), followed by being Unable to afford to have family or friends for a drink or meal once a month (10.5%) and going Without heating at some stage in the last year (9.1%). See table 3.5a and figure 3.5.

Seven in ten individuals (71.4%) experienced none of the 11 types of deprivation items in 2020. Under one in ten (8.5%) experienced at least three of the 11 deprivation items, increasing to one in four (24.5%) for those at risk of poverty. See table 3.4 and figure 3.6.

The consistent poverty measure is defined as people who are both at risk of poverty and experiencing enforced deprivation. The consistent poverty rate in 2020 was 4.7%. See table 3.1 & figure 3.1. 

An analysis of consistent poverty rates by principal economic status shows that the consistent poverty rate was highest among persons Unemployed (16.4%) and those Unable to work due to long-standing health problems (16.2%) , while it was lowest amongst those who were Employed (1.6%) and those who were Retired (1.1%).

Looking at 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 19.3%, compared with 0.4% for individuals living in households where there were Two more adults, with at least one aged 65 or over and no children.

In terms of tenure status, the rate for those living in Owner-occupied dwellings was 1.6% compared with 11.7% for those living in Rented or rent free accommodation. See figure 3.7.

At risk of poverty rate after deducting rent and mortgage interest is a new measure the CSO has introduced to the analysis, to reflect inequalities in housing costs and their impact on poverty risk. If rent and mortgage interest payments were deducted from income, the at risk of poverty rate would have been 19.3%, 6.1 percentage points higher than without the deduction. See the Background Notes for full technical details.

Analysis by tenure shows that after deducting rent paid, one in two (51.6%) of those that stated they lived in accommodation Rented from the Local Authority would have been at risk of poverty. The at risk of poverty rate for those living in accommodation Rented with other forms of social housing supports such as the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), Rent Supplement and the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), was 60.9% when rent was deducted from disposable income, compared with 25.9% before rent was deducted. For persons living in accommodation Rented without housing supports, the at risk of poverty rate increased from 16.6% to 31.5% after deducting rent paid. See table 3.8 and figure 3.8.

In terms of household composition and percentage point increase in the at risk of poverty rate, the largest increases in the at risk of poverty rate after deducting rent and mortgage interest is seen for persons in households with One adult and children under 18, where the at risk of poverty rate increased from 31.0% to 49.6% and for households with One adult aged under 65 where the rate increased from 28.9% to 38.0%.