In the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2024, 26.4% of people aged 16 and over reported a high level of satisfaction with their overall life, down from 28.9% in 2023.
One in three retired respondents (33.0%) reported their overall life satisfaction level as high, compared with one in four employed respondents (25.7%) and one in nine (11.4%) unemployed respondents.
Overall, two in ten (18.7%) female respondents reported feeling downhearted or depressed at least sometimes in the four-week period prior to their SILC interview. The comparable rate for male respondents was 12.5%.
One in four (21.7%) respondents living in owner-occupied accommodation reported high overall satisfaction with the financial situation of their household. The comparable rate for respondents living in rented accommodation was more than two times lower at 9.4%.
Three in ten (30.9%) respondents who were unable to work due to long-standing health problems reported feeling lonely at least sometimes in the four-week period prior to their SILC interview. The comparable rates for employed and retired respondents were 12.5% and 13.5% respectively.
Overall, 18.0% of respondents aged 16 years and older who were at risk of poverty in 2024 reported a low level of satisfaction with their overall life. This is almost double the rate (9.7%) for respondents who were not at risk of poverty.
SILC is a household survey covering a broad range of topics relating to income and living conditions. It is the official source of data on household and individual income and provides key national poverty indicators, such as the at risk of poverty rate, the consistent poverty rate, and rates of enforced deprivation. Results published in today’s report relate to answers given directly by survey respondents aged 16 years and older.
March 2025 marks five years since the threat of COVID-19 changed life for people in Ireland almost overnight. Results from the CSO’s Pulse survey ‘COVID-19 - Our Lives Five Years On: Social Impact’ were also published today. Respondents to this survey told us about how certain aspects of their lives have changed in the last five years. For example, whether personal relationships have been affected, or whether attitudes to social distancing or social media changed.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (25 March 2025) published well-being results from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2024.
Commenting on today’s release, Gerry Reilly, Senior Statistician in the Income, Consumption and Wealth Division, said:
“Respondents to the SILC survey who are 16 years or older are asked to rate their satisfaction levels with various aspects of their lives, such as their overall life satisfaction and satisfaction with the financial situation of their households on a scale from 0 (‘Not at all satisfied’) to 10 (‘Completely satisfied’). The mean score for each satisfaction level indicator is calculated by adding individual scores and dividing the total by the number of individuals. In this release, the responses for the satisfaction level indicators are also grouped as low (0-5), medium (6-8), and high (9-10).
As part of the annual SILC, respondents are asked how often they felt downhearted or depressed, or lonely in the four weeks prior to their interview date. The answer options to these questions are ‘Don’t know/refuse’, ‘None of the time’, ‘Rarely’, ‘Sometimes’, ‘Most of the time’, or ‘Always’.
The data collection phase of the SILC survey occurs during the first six months of the SILC reference year. When comparing results from the 2024 survey with 2021, it is worth remembering that in the SILC 2021, COVID-19 related public health restrictions were in place during the January to June data collection period, including Level 5 restrictions for more than half of this period.
Main Results
In 2024, one in four (26.4%) respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with their overall life, down from 28.9% of respondents in 2023. In 2021, when COVID-19 related health restrictions were in place, one in five (21.4%) respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with their overall life.
The percentage of respondents who reported high overall satisfaction with the financial situation of their household in 2024 at 18.2% was almost unchanged from the 2023 rate of 18.4%. The percentage reporting low satisfaction increased from 23.0% in 2023 to 24.6% in 2024.
Age
Analysis of overall life satisfaction by age shows that in 2024, respondents aged 65 and older were more likely to report high satisfaction with their overall life. Almost one in three (32.3%) of this age group reported high overall life satisfaction compared with one in four (24.7%) people aged 25-to-49 years. Older respondents were also more likely to report high overall satisfaction with the financial situation of their households, with 27.5% of respondents aged 65 and older reporting high overall satisfaction with the financial situation of their households compared with 14.2% of respondents aged 25-to-49 years.
Respondents aged 16-to-24 years had the highest rate for feeling downhearted or depressed at least sometimes in the four-week period prior to their SILC interview in 2024, with one in five (19.8%) reporting that they felt this way. Respondents aged 65 and older had the lowest rate at 13.6%.
Sex
Female respondents were less likely to report high satisfaction with their overall life and with the financial situation of their households. One in five (20.5%) male respondents reported high satisfaction with the financial situation of their households compared with 16.0% of female respondents.
Female respondents were more likely to report feeling downhearted or depressed. In 2024, 18.7% of female respondents reported feeling downhearted or depressed at least sometimes in the four-week period prior to their SILC interview compared with 12.5% of male respondents. Female respondents were also more likely to report feeling lonely with 17.1% reporting that they felt lonely at least sometimes in the four-week period prior to their SILC interview. The comparable rate for male respondents was 11.7%.
Economic Status
One in three (32.6%) respondents who described themselves as unable to work due to long-standing health problems reported low overall life satisfaction. This compares with two in ten (19.0%) unemployed respondents and one in ten employed and retired respondents (8.7% and 9.6% respectively).
One in three (33.0%) retired respondents reported their overall life satisfaction level as high, compared with one in four employed (25.7%) respondents and one in nine (11.4%) unemployed respondents. In 2024, 16.1% of respondents who described themselves as unable to work due to long-standing health problems reported high overall life satisfaction.
Respondents who were unable to work due to long-standing health problems were more likely to report feeling downhearted or depressed or lonely in the four weeks prior to their interview in 2024 when compared with other groups. Four in ten (39.3%) respondents who were unable to work due to long-standing health problems reported feeling downhearted or depressed compared with 20.7% of students, 19.7% of those unemployed, 13.7% of those employed, and 12.0% of retired respondents.
Housing Status
Respondents living in owner-occupied accommodation were more likely to report a high satisfaction level with their overall lives, with 28.8% of this group reporting high satisfaction compared with 20.3% of respondents living in rented accommodation.
One in five (21.7%) respondents living in owner-occupied accommodation reported high overall satisfaction with the financial situation of their household compared with one in ten (9.4%) respondents living in rented accommodation.
Poverty Status
Analysis of overall life satisfaction levels and satisfaction with household finances by poverty and enforced deprivation status shows that people at risk of poverty and people living in enforced deprivation have lower satisfaction levels.
Overall, 18.0% of people who were at risk of poverty in 2024 had a low satisfaction rate with their overall lives, compared with 9.7% of people who were not at risk of poverty. Just over six in ten (61.4%) people living in enforced deprivation had a low satisfaction rate with the financial situation of their household. The comparable rate for people not living in enforced deprivation was more than three times lower (18.6%).”