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.
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. However, when analysing by individual characteristics, it should be borne in mind that equivalised income is influenced by the income of all household members.
Equivalence scales are used to calculate the equivalised household size. Although there are numerous scales, we focus on the national scale in this release. The national scale attributes a weight of 1 to the first adult, 0.66 to each subsequent adult (defined here as those aged 14+ living in the household) and 0.33 to each child aged less than 14. The weights for the persons in each household are then summed to calculate the equivalised household size.
Household net administrative income is income from administrative sources such as employment income from Revenue and social welfare income from the Department of Social Protection, after tax and social insurance has been deducted. For further information on the household level income used in this release, see Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022 - Household Income.
To calculate equivalised net administrative income, a household’s net administrative income is divided by the equivalised household size. Taking 60% of the 2022 national median equivalised net administrative income as a low-administrative-income threshold at €16,271, we can look at the proportion of people with an equivalised net administrative income below this threshold by various characteristics. For further information on the equivalised income used in this release, see Income Analysis Using Administrative Data Sources 2022.
This release focuses on children aged under 18 living in private households. Due to the nature of the analysis, some households where the relationships between household occupants were unknown were excluded from analysis. For further information, see the Background Notes.
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 60% of the national median, compared with 28.2% of children in County Donegal.
While the 60% threshold serves as the standard baseline for identifying who are at risk of poverty, looking at lower thresholds of 50% and 40% can help measure the depth of economic hardship.
In County Dublin, 12.2% of children were below the 60% threshold, 7.2% below the 50% threshold, and 3.3% of children were below the 40% of median equivalised net administrative income threshold.
In County Donegal, 28.2% of children were below the 60% threshold, 16.1% below the 50% threshold, and 7.7% of children were below the 40% of median equivalised net administrative income threshold.
Administrative counties correspond with the Local Authorities, covering 31 city and county councils. For example, Cork County refers to the region administered by Cork County Council.
By administrative county, the percentage of children under 18 years of age with an equivalised net administrative income below 60% of the national median in 2022, was lowest in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, at 8.7%. The proportion of children below this low-income threshold was highest in Donegal County Council, at 28.2%.
For the purposes of local authority elections, each county and city are divided into Local Electoral Areas (LEAs). For further information see Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics.
In Leinster, the percentage of children under 18 years of age with equivalised net administrative income below 60% of the national median in 2022, was highest in Longford in County Longford (31.1%), followed by Dublin North Inner City (27.0%). The proportion of children under this threshold was lowest in Stillorgan (6.2%) and Rathfarnham-Templeogue (6.2%), both in County Dublin.
In Ulster, the proportion of children below this low-income threshold was highest in Carndonagh (41.1%) and Buncrana (35.9%), both in County Donegal. The Ulster LEAs with the lowest percentage of children under this low-income threshold were Bailieborough-Cootehill (17.5%) and Ballyjamesduff (20.3%), both in County Cavan.
In Connaught, the LEA with the highest proportion of children under the low-income threshold was Belmullet in County Mayo (28.0%), followed by Ballinamore in County Leitrim (27.1%). Meanwhile, Gort-Kinvara (10.2%), followed by Athenry-Oranmore (11.3%), both in County Galway, had the lowest percentages of children under the low-income threshold.
In Munster, the proportion of children under the low-income threshold was highest in Waterford City South (27.6%), followed by Bantry-West Cork (24.6%). Conversely, it was lowest in Cork City South West (10.9%) and Newport in County Tipperary (11.2%).
The Pobal HP Deprivation Index uses data from Census 2022, analysing ten measures of an area’s levels of disadvantage. These include educational attainment, employment status and the numbers living in individual households. The possible groupings of relative affluence and disadvantage are:
For further information see Pobal HP Deprivation Index.
In 2022, 41.8% of children under 18 years of age living in areas classified as extremely disadvantaged had an equivalised net administrative income below 60% of the national median. The proportion of children living under the low-income threshold decreased as relative affluence increased, to 5.4% of children living in areas classified as very affluent falling below this threshold.
This section uses the six-category urban and rural classification set out in Urban and Rural Life in Ireland.
In 2022, 12.1% of children under 18 years of age living in rural areas with a high urban influence had an equivalised net administrative income below 60% of the national median, compared with 23.5% of children living in independent urban towns.
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