SILC data 2020 to 2022 was revised on 7 March 2024 due to changes made to weights, reflecting updated household population benchmarks, due to the availability of Census 2022 data.
The data in SILC Module on Child Deprivation 2021 was published on 04 October 2022 and does not reflect these revisions, but will be updated in 2024 to incorporate these revisions. For the most up to date SILC data, which reflect revised population benchmarks from Census revisions, please see SILC 2023 or SILC PxStat.
Modules are carried out as part of the annual Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) to complement the variables permanently collected in the survey. One of the 2021 SILC modules was ‘child-specific deprivation’. Information on child-specific deprivation was gathered from the household questionnaire respondent, typically a parent of the child/children in the household. Table 6.1 below lists the 13 child-specific deprivation items collected in the 2021 SILC module.
Table 6.1 Child-specific deprivation Items
| Item | Description of Item | Base |
|---|---|---|
| Clothes | Unable to afford some new (not second-hand) clothes for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Shoes | Unable to afford two pairs of properly fitting shoes in good condition that are suitable for daily activities for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Meals | Unable to afford a meal with meat, chicken or fish (or vegetarian equivalent) at least once a day for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Fruit and vegetables | Unable to afford fruit and vegetables once a day for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Holiday | Unable to afford a one week holiday away from home for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Books | Unable to afford age-appropriate books for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Indoor games | Unable to afford indoor games (educational baby toys, building blocks, board games, computer games, etc) for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Leisure equipment | Unable to afford outdoor leisure equipment (e.g. bicycle, roller skates, etc.) for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Leisure activity | Unable to afford regular leisure activity (e.g. swimming, playing an instrument, youth organisations, etc.) for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Party | Unable to afford celebrations on special occasions for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Friends | Unable to afford to invite friends of children under 16 round to play or eat from time to time | Households with at least one child under 16 |
| Homework | Unable to afford suitable place to study or do homework for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 in education |
| School trips | Unable to afford school trips and school events (that cost money) for children under 16 | Households with at least one child under 16 in education |
In households with more than one child under the age of 16, the deprivation item questions were not generally asked specifically of each child. Taking the question about child deprivation in relation to shoes as an example, a respondent with three children aged less than 16 was asked ‘Your household has three children under the age of 16, does each of these three children have two pairs of properly fitting shoes in good condition that are suitable for daily activities?’ Answer options were
Where the household questionnaire respondent answered ‘No, because cannot afford’, then the household was classified as being deprived of the item for all children.
Questions related to two of the thirteen child deprivation items (homework and school trips) were asked individually with respect to all school going children aged under 16 in a responding household. If a household had one child deprived (for one of these two items) and another not deprived of the item, then the household was classified as deprived of the item.
In this publication a child is defined as a household member aged less than 16 at date of interview, as child-specific deprivation questions were only collected from households with at least one such household member.
Analysis of child-specific deprivation in the ‘SILC Module on Child Deprivation 2021’ is by the following household characteristics:
Number of parents in household
Child-specific deprivation rates for single-parent households are compared with rates for two-parent household.
Number of children in household
Child-specific deprivation rates for households with one or two children aged under 16 are compared with rates for households with three or more children.
Number of workers in household
Child-specific deprivation rates for households with no worker are compared with rates for households with one worker, with two workers and also compared with rates for households with three or more workers.
Highest level of education of Parent
In single-parent households the highest level of education achieved by the single-parent was assigned to the household. In two-parent households, the education level of the parent with the highest level of education was assigned to the household. Child-specific deprivation rates in households where the highest level of education achieved by the parent was ‘Upper secondary (leaving certificate or equivalent) or lower’ are compared with households where the highest achieved parent education level was ‘Post-secondary or short cycle tertiary’ and also compared with households where the highest parent education level was ‘Third level degree or above’.
Household disposable income quintiles
To analyse the impact of household income on child deprivation, all SILC households (i.e. households with and households without children) were split into five groups (quintiles) based upon their disposable income, with the 20% of households with the lowest income in the first quintile and the 20% of households with the highest income in the fifth quintile. Child-specific deprivation rates are compared by household disposable income quintile e.g. child-specific deprivation rates of households with children with a disposable income in the first national disposable income quintile are compared with households with children in the other four quintiles.
Country of birth of parent
Child-specific deprivation rates for households without an Irish-born parent are compared with deprivation rates in households with at least one Irish-born parent.
Inability to afford two pairs of properly fitting shoes and inability to afford new (not second-hand) clothes are part of the 11 basic deprivation indicators collected annually in SILC. Questions relating to these two indicators are asked individually of all household members aged 16 and over. It is therefore possible to compare the child-specific shoes and clothes deprivation rates with the comparable rates for parent(s). Child-specific and Parent-specific shoes and clothes deprivation rates are compared in the publication.
The SILC module information is collected as part of the annual SILC. Please see background notes related to the 2021 SILC.
