Tá leagan Gaeilge den leathanach seo ar fáil. Féach Suirbhé ar Ioncam agus Dálaí Maireachtála (SILC) : Díothacht Fhorghníomhach 2025.
The percentage of people living in enforced deprivation decreased from 17.3% in 2023, to 15.7% in 2024, and down to 14.8% in 2025.
The groups most likely to experience enforced deprivation in 2025 were those living in single-adult households with children under 18 (49.0%); unemployed (41.7%); unable to work due to long-standing health problems (39.0%); and those living in rented or rent-free accommodation (31.6%).
The percentage of people who went without heating at some time during the 12 months prior to interview through lack of money, dropped from 8.2% in 2024 to 7.4% in 2025.
In 2025, 44.8% of households said they had at least some difficulty in making ends meet, down slightly from 46.2% in 2024 and from 50.4% in 2022.
Analysis by tenure status shows that 12.4% of households that rented had great difficulty in making ends meet in 2025 compared with 3.5% of owner-occupied households.
At the end of a typical month in 2025, over one in three (36.8%) households did not have money to set aside, while an additional 5.0% needed to draw money from savings, and 2.8% needed to borrow money.
In 2025, over one in four (26.6%) of households regarded housing costs as a heavy financial burden, this was down on the 2024 rate of 29.5%.
The SILC household survey is the official source of data on household and individual income, and it provides a number of key national poverty indicators, such as the at risk of poverty rate, the rate of enforced deprivation, and the consistent poverty rate. This release focuses on enforced deprivation.
Data collection for SILC was carried out between January to July 2025.
The CSO will issue further results from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) for 2025 in March 2026. Further results include data on household and individual income, and results for several key national poverty indicators, such as the at risk of poverty rate and the consistent poverty rate.
Further information is available in the Background Notes section.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (08 December 2025) published Enforced Deprivation Results from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) for 2025.
The SILC household survey is the official source of data on household and individual income, and it provides a number of key national poverty indicators. SILC annual data collection occurs during the first six months of the survey year. Taking the mid-point (March) of SILC data collection for survey years 2021 to 2025, we can see trends over time.
Commenting on today’s release, Lianora Bermingham, Statistician in the Income, Consumption and Wealth Division, said: “Today’s results from the CSO’s SILC 2025 show an overall decrease in the percentage of people experiencing deprivation in 2025. The release also highlights the higher incidence of deprivation amongst certain groups such as single-adult households with children; people unable to work due to long-standing health problems; the unemployed; and those living in rented accommodation.
Decrease in Deprivation
People are defined as experiencing enforced deprivation if they live in a household that cannot afford two or more of the eleven basic deprivation items that are considered to be the norm for other households in society, such as being unable to afford to get together with family or friends for a drink or meal once a month or being unable to afford to keep their home adequately warm. For the full list of deprivation items, see At Risk of Poverty Indicators Explained.
SILC annual data collection occurs during the first six months of the survey year. Taking the mid-point (March) of SILC data collection for survey years 2021 to 2025, prices on average, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose by
The changes seen in enforced deprivation rates over the four-year period 2021 to 2025 reflect the impact of average price changes on households over this period. The proportion of people living in households experiencing enforced deprivation rose from 13.7% in 2021 to 16.6% in 2022 and to 17.3% in 2023. The number fell to 15.7% in 2024 and dropped to 14.8% in 2025.
The deprivation rate was down in six of the eleven deprivation items in 2025. The largest percentage point decrease was for the percentage of people unable to afford to replace any worn out furniture which went down from 16.7% in 2024 to 15.7% in 2025.
The largest percentage point increases were for the percentage of people unable to afford new (not second-hand) clothes which went up from 6.2% in 2024 to 7.4% in 2025, and the percentage of people unable to afford a roast dinner (or its equivalent) once a week which rose from 3.7% in 2024 to 4.6% in 2025.
Self-Defined Economic Status
Looking at factors such as employment status, household composition, and tenure on deprivation, CSO analysis reveals significant differences in deprivation rates.
Individuals who described themselves as unemployed or as unable to work due to long-standing health problems had the highest rates of enforced deprivation in 2025 at 41.7% and 39.0% respectively. People least likely to experience enforced deprivation were the employed (9.5%) and the retired (9.0%). One in seven (14.4%) people who described themselves as unemployed, and a similar proportion (13.6%) of people unable to work due to long-standing health problems, were unable to afford to keep the home adequately warm in 2025. In comparison, 3.2% of people who described themselves as employed, and 3.2% of retired people, were unable to afford to keep the home adequately warm.
Household Composition
Higher rates of deprivation were seen amongst those living in single-adult households with children, with almost half (49.0%) living in enforced deprivation; 12.4% were unable to afford to keep the home adequately warm, almost one in three (31.9%) were unable to afford to get together with family or friends for a drink or meal once a month, and more than one in ten (11.9%) were unable to afford a meal with meat, chicken or fish every second day.
For people living in households composed of two adults with up to three children under 18, 11.6% experienced enforced deprivation in 2025; 3.7% were unable to afford to keep the home adequately warm, and 9.6% were unable to afford to get together with family or friends for a drink or meal once a month.
Lower rates of deprivation were seen in elderly households. In households comprised of two adults where at least one was aged 65 or over, 8.3% of people were living in enforced deprivation in 2025.
Tenure
People living in rented or rent-free* accommodation were more likely to be living in enforced deprivation. The tenure status rent-free refers to those living in a home for which no rent is paid. More than three in ten (31.6%) people living in rented or rent-free accommodation were living in enforced deprivation in 2025, compared with less than one in ten (7.7%) people living in owner-occupied accommodation. People living in rented or rent-free accommodation had higher deprivation rates for each of the eleven deprivation items. For example, 20.5% of people living in rented accommodation could not afford to get together with family or friends for a drink or meal once a month compared with 5.5% of people living in owner-occupied dwellings.
Higher Rates of Difficulty in Making Ends Meet for Rented Households
Households were asked to rate their self-perceived level of difficulty in making ends meet, with the answer options being: ‘with great difficulty’; ‘with difficulty’; ‘with some difficulty’; ‘fairly easily’; ‘easily’; ‘very easily’.
In 2025, less than half of households (44.8%) said they had at least some difficulty in making ends meet, down slightly from 46.2% in 2024, 47.8% in 2023, and 50.4% in 2022. In 2021, 41.8% of households reported having at least some difficulty in making ends meet. The proportion of households reporting great difficulty in making ends meet in 2025 increased slightly from the 2024 rate (6.3% and 5.6% respectively).
More than eight in ten (84.2%) single-adult households with children under 18 had at least some difficulty in making ends meet in 2025, with two in ten (20.0%) reporting with great difficulty. In comparison, three in ten (31.1%) households composed of two adults, with at least one aged 65 years and over experienced at least some level of difficulty in making ends meet, with 2.8% reporting great difficulty.
Analysis by tenure status shows that 12.4% of households that rented or were rent-free had great difficulty in making ends meet compared with 3.5% of owner-occupied households.
Household Finances and Savings at the End of a Typical Month
Households were asked about their finances at the end of a typical month with the answer options being: ‘put money aside’; ‘need to draw on savings’; ‘need to borrow money’; ‘neither put money aside nor need to draw on savings or borrow’.
At the end of a typical month, more than half of households (55.4%) could put money aside, 5.0% needed to draw from savings, and 2.8% needed to borrow money. Over one in three (36.8%) didn't have money to set aside.
Analysis by tenure status shows that 1.1% of owner-occupied households needed to borrow money at the end of a typical month compared with 6.3% of households that rented or were rent-free.
Households were asked if they were not to receive any income (such as wages, pension, or social welfare payments), how long they would be able to maintain the same standard of living using savings. The answer options to this question were: ‘less than three months’; ‘three months or more but less than six months’; ‘six months or more but less than 12 months; ‘12 months or more’.
Less than half of households (46.5%) said they could maintain the same standard of living for less than three months, almost one in four (23.8%) could maintain the same standard for between three and six months, 14.9% for between six months and a year, and 14.9% could maintain the same standard of living for 12 months or more.
Two in three (67.0%) households that rented or were rent-free could maintain the same standard of living for less than three months. The comparable rate for owner-occupied households was 36.9%.
Increased Financial Burden of Housing Costs Since 2021
Households were asked the extent to which housing costs were a financial burden to the household. The answer categories were: ‘a heavy burden’; ‘somewhat a burden; ‘not a burden at all’.
In 2025, 26.6% of households regarded housing costs as a heavy financial burden, down on the 2024, 2023, and 2022 rates of 29.5%, 30.6%, and 30.9% but more than three percentage points higher than in 2021 when the rate was 23.1%.
More than one in three (35.7%) households that rented or were rent-free found housing costs to be a heavy burden, compared with 22.4% of owner-occupied households.”