This release is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources. For further information on the data sources, linking procedures, and limitations of this release, see the Background Notes section.
This release is based on linking administrative income data with those who indicated they were living in private households in Census 2022. When calculating household income, estimates for some households are underestimated, as not all income sources are included, such as undeclared employment income, inter-household transfers, and some foreign pensions. Throughout this release, the term administrative income will be used to describe the income sources covered.
Equivalised income allows for a more meaningful comparison of income across households by accounting for the number of adults and children living in the household, thus allowing for analysis at an individualised level. The term low-income threshold refers to households with an equivalised net administrative income of below 60% of the national median equivalised net income as derived from administrative data sources. In this release, the low-income threshold is deemed to be €16,271.
This release focuses on children aged under 18, living in private households with one or both parents.
Using Census 2022 and administrative data on income, one in six (16.1%) children aged under 18, living in private households with one or both parents, were living in households below the low-income threshold of €16,271 equivalised net administrative income in 2022.
Over three in five (62.2%) children under 18 years of age living in a household with no working parent were below the low-income threshold. This decreased to one in four (24.3%) children in households with one working parent, and further to 3.7% of children in households with two working parents.
By NACE economic sector, 2.7% of children where the highest earning parent worked in the Financial & Insurance and Real Estate Activities sectors were below the low-income threshold, compared with one in four (24.6%) in the Accommodation & Food Service Activities sector.
By nature of occupancy, 7.9% of children living in homes that were owner-occupied with a loan or mortgage were below the low-income threshold. This compared with 42.5% of children living in homes rented from a local authority.
By ethnicity, three in five (61.9%) children who identified as White Irish Traveller were below the low-income threshold, compared with 13.7% for White Irish children.
Regional household administrative income estimates from this data source were published by the CSO in April 2025 in the Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022 - Household Income release, while estimates on equivalised income from the same data were published in October 2025 in Income Analysis Using Administrative Data Sources 2022.
By county, in 2022, 12.2% of children under 18 years of age, living in private households with one or both parents in County Dublin, had an equivalised net administrative income below the low-income threshold, compared with 28.2% of children in County Donegal.
Breaking down the results by Local Electoral Area (LEA), the proportion of children under this threshold was lowest in Stillorgan (6.2%) and Rathfarnham-Templeogue (6.2%), both in County Dublin, and highest in Longford in County Longford (31.1%), followed by Dublin North Inner City (27.0%).
Using the Pobal HP Deprivation Index, 41.8% of children under 18 years of age living in areas classified as extremely disadvantaged were below the low-income threshold, compared with 5.4% of children living in areas classified as very affluent.
In 2022, 13.9% of children aged under 5 years were below the low-income threshold, this increased by age group to 20.5% of children aged 15 to 17 living below this threshold.
By ethnicity, three in five (61.9%) children who identified as White Irish Traveller had an equivalised net administrative income below the low-income threshold. This was followed by children of Arab ethnicity (45.3%), and those who identified as Asian or Asian Irish – Chinese (39.8%). In contrast, children identified as White Irish recorded the lowest rate below this threshold at 13.7%, followed by children identified as Asian or Asian Irish – Indian / Pakistani / Bangladeshi (15.6%) and those from any other white background (19.6%).
In 2022, 12.6% of children living in households containing one child under 18 years of age were below the low-income threshold, compared with 45.6% of children in households with five or more children.
Children living in one-parent households had a higher risk of being below the low-income threshold. Three in ten children of single mothers (30.1%) and single fathers (29.3%) were below the low-income threshold, compared with one in five (20.9%) children of cohabiting couples and one in eight (12.2%) children of married couples.
By nature of occupancy, 7.9% of children living in homes that were owner-occupied with a loan or mortgage were below the low-income threshold. This compared with 42.5% of children living in homes rented from a local authority.
In 2022, more than three in five (62.2%) children under 18 years of age living in a household with no working parent were below the low-income threshold. This decreased to 24.3% of children in households with one working parent, and further to 3.7% of children in households with two working parents. More than half (57.5%) of households containing children under 18 years of age had two working parents, while 33.1% had one working parent and 9.4% had no working parents.
By occupation group, 3.0% of children where the highest earning parent worked in the professional occupation group were below the low-income threshold, compared with 22.0% of children where the highest earning parent had an elementary occupation.
By NACE economic sector, 2.7% of children where the highest earning parent worked in the Financial & Insurance and Real Estate Activities sectors were below the low-income threshold. This compared with 24.6% of children where the highest earning parent worked in the Accommodation & Food Service Activities sector.
By the highest level of education completed by parents in the household, nearly half of children (49.9%) whose highest-educated parent had a primary or no formal education lived below the low-income threshold, compared with 4.3% of children with a parent who had a doctorate.
This release is categorised as a CSO Frontier Series Output, which means care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release as it may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete.
The Characteristics of Children Living in Low-Income Households presents income statistics based on administrative sources and is an example of the policy relevant research projects the CSO are developing as part of its leadership role of the Irish Statistical System.
The first release from this project, focusing on administrative household income, was published on 23 April 2025 as Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022 - Household Income. The second release focusing on equivalised net administrative income, was published on 14 October 2025 as Income Analysis Using Administrative Data Sources 2022.
Analysis was carried out to examine the relationship between the above-mentioned factors and their association with whether a child is living below this low-income threshold. The results presented do not mean that a certain outcome is guaranteed based on a certain set of factors. The financial circumstances of a household are likely to be influenced by many factors, as such the regression model presented does not include all factors that determine this outcome. For further details, see the Predictors of Low-Income chapter.
Users should note some of the limitations in the data sources. There are records on the CSO Census of Population Analysis (COPA) 2022 that could not be matched with administrative income, which may lead to biases particularly in border regions where there are a significant number of persons working in Northern Ireland. As such, care should be taken when interpreting results at some lower geographical levels.
The Characteristics of Children Living in Low-Income Households release focuses on children aged under 18 living in private households with one or both parents, as such it does not capture the circumstances of all children in the state.
Users should be aware that the Survey on Income and Living Conditions is the official measure of household income and risk of poverty in Ireland. The Income Analysis using Administrative Data Sources (IAADS) release presents estimates based solely on available administrative income data and uses a dwelling definition of household. As such, the two are not directly comparable. For further information see the Background Notes.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (19 October 2026) published Characteristics of Children Living in Low-Income Households 2022.
Commenting on today’s release, Eva O’Regan, Statistician in the Income, Consumption and Wealth (ICW) Division, said: “This release, published as a CSO Frontier Series Output, produces equivalised income statistics on children using administrative data and Census 2022. Equivalisation adjusts household income for differences in household size and composition, allowing for analysis at an individualised level.
This release analysed data for children under the age of 18 in Census 2022 and living in private households with one or both parents by: geography; characteristics of the child such as age and ethnicity; characteristics of the household such as nature of occupancy and type of family unit; and characteristics of the parents such as occupation and education.
The term low-income threshold refers to households with an equivalised net administrative income of below €16,271, which is 60% of the national median equivalised net income as derived from 2022 administrative data sources. Please refer to the Background Notes for more information. As this is a Frontier Series output, care must be taken when interpreting these results as methodologies may change and data sources may be incomplete.”