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.
Growing up in Ireland Cohort '98 participants whose parents used the public library for them at age 9 were more likely to have a degree at age 25 (63%) than those whose parents did not use the library for them (53%).
Respondents who did not have a TV in their bedroom at the age of 9 were more likely to have a degree level qualification or equivalent when they were 25, at almost 70%, compared with a 45% attainment level for those who had a TV in their bedroom.
A parent’s expectation of their 9-year-old’s future educational attainment had an impact on their likelihood of having a degree. Almost 70% of those whose parents expected them to get a degree had done so by age 25. By comparison 37% of respondents, whose parents did not have this expectation, had a degree level qualification by age 25.
Over 45% of those whose household income was in the lowest income category at age 9 had at least some difficulty making ends meet at age 25, compared with 24% of those in the highest income group.
Respondents whose household income was in the highest income threshold at age 9 were less likely to have difficulty making loan repayments at age 25 than those in the lowest household income quintile.
The CSO would like to thank the many contributors to GUI Cohort '98. We would like to particularly thank the participating respondents and their families for their ongoing co-operation in agreeing to take part in the GUI survey and for facilitating the collection of the relevant data.
Results from this survey reflect the specific sample: 25-year-olds living in Ireland in 2023/'24 who were also living in Ireland when they were 9 years of age in 2007/'08 at the time of Wave 1 data collection. The results are therefore not comparable with those which reflect the full population of contemporaneous 25-year-olds living in Ireland, for example results captured by the census of population. Those results would include individuals who moved to Ireland in the years after 2008 and were therefore not eligible to be sampled for GUI.
Analyses were carried out to examine the relationship between the above-mentioned factors and the respondents’ level of education and financial well-being at age 25. The results presented do not mean that a certain outcome is guaranteed based on a certain set of factors. Education levels and financial well-being in adulthood are likely to be influenced by many factors, as such the regression models presented do not include all factors that determine these outcomes (See Appendix and FAQ section of Background Notes for further details).
This is the second in a series of CSO releases using data from GUI Cohort '98. Upcoming releases in this series will also take a longitudinal approach.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (23 February 2026) published the second in a series of releases on Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Cohort '98 at age 25. This release is a CSO Frontier Series Output and care must be taken when interpreting these results.
GUI is the national, longitudinal study of children and young people in Ireland and is a collaborative program of work between the CSO and the Department for Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE). This release presents results of the impact of childhood factors on educational attainment and financial well-being at the age of 25. See Growing Up in Ireland: Cohort '98 at age 25 Main Results for more information on GUI.
Commenting on today’s release, Dr. Caragh Stapleton, Statistician in the Growing Up in Ireland Division at the CSO, said:
“Today’s results from the CSO GUI Cohort '98 at age 25 examine the association of a number of childhood factors with educational outcomes and financial well-being of respondents at age 25 years.
The people who took part in this GUI survey and are the subject of this release were born in 1998. In Wave 1 when the respondents were aged 9, parents of respondents were asked questions relating to the child’s use of a public library, whether the child had a television in their bedroom, how far did they expect their child to go in their education or training, and the household’s income. Analysis was carried out to examine the relationship between these factors and the respondents’ level of education and financial well-being at age 25 (See Background Notes for further information).
Education
Parental expectation of how far the child would go in their education at the age of 9 was associated with whether the young person had obtained a degree at age 25. Just under four in ten (37%) of those whose parents did not expect the young person to reach a degree level education had obtained a degree level qualification or equivalent compared with 69% of those whose parents did expect them to get a degree.
Respondents who did not have a television in their bedroom at the age of 9 were more likely to have a degree level qualification or equivalent when they were 25, at almost 70%, compared with those who had a TV in their room at 45%.
The respondent making use of a public library when they were 9 years old was also associated with higher rates of obtaining a degree by the age of 25. More than six in ten (63%) respondents whose parents used the public library for them had a degree level qualification or equivalent at age 25 compared with 53% of those who did not use the public library.
Financial Well-Being
Less than a quarter (24%) of respondents whose household had an equivalised income, which accounts for the number of adults and children living in the household, in the highest group or quintile at age 9 had difficulty making ends meet at age 25. This compares with 45% of those whose household income placed them in the lowest quintile when they were 9 years old.
Less than one in ten (7%) respondents in the highest household income quintile at the age of 9, had a lot or a little difficulty making loan repayments. In comparison, 17% of those in the lowest income quintile at 9 years old had difficulty making loan repayments when they were age 25.
Future Cross Cohort Analyses
In addition to the 1998 cohort, GUI has two additional cohorts for those born in 2008 and those born in 2024. The multi-cohort design will allow for future comparisons to be made across all three cohorts to help better understand what impacts education and financial well-being outcomes across different generations.”