Press release
Minister Humphreys welcomes findings of latest survey on income and living conditions data
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Social Protection
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys, today (Friday, 6 May) welcomed the findings of the latest Survey on Income and Living Conditions data for 2021 (SILC 2021), which provides the key measures of social inclusion, income poverty and income equality for Ireland.
There have been welcome reductions in all 3 national rates for the key social inclusion indicators:
| SILC 2021 | SILC 2020 | Change | |
| Consistent Poverty Rate | 4% | 4.7% | -0.7 percentage points (or 15%) |
| At-Risk-of Poverty Rate | 11.6% | 13.2% | -1.6 percentage points (or 12%) |
| Deprivation Rate | 13.8% | 14.3% | -0.5 percentage points (or 3.5%) |
The positive impact of COVID-19 income supports provided by Government is highlighted in the CSO release. Without COVID-19 income supports, the at risk of poverty rate would have been 19.9% and median household disposable income would have decreased by 6.2%. As a result of COVID-19 income supports, median household disposable income increased by 5.2%. While household disposable income increased for all income deciles.
The SILC 2021 report also calculates Ireland’s Gini coefficient, which is a measure of income inequality. This measure is calculated on a scale of 0-100, where a smaller number represents a more equal distribution of income. In 2021 Ireland’s level of income inequality was 27, which is an improvement from the equivalent 2020 figure of 28.5 (an improvement of 1.5 points or just over 5%). For comparison purposes the average EU Gini coefficient in 2020 was 30.
The survey also shows that median household disposable income grew by 5.8% to €46,471 in SILC 2021 compared to SILC 2020. Ireland is one of the few countries in the world where incomes are growing and income inequality is falling.
The ambitious headline target - Ireland’s National Social Target for Poverty Reduction - set out in the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020 – 2025, is to reduce the percentage of the population in consistent poverty to 2% or less by 2025. The SILC data shows steady progress with a 0.7 percentage point reduction to 4%.
Combined with the other SILC 2021 findings, the 2021 reduction in income inequality displays the effectiveness of Ireland’s social welfare system at both redistributing income and reducing poverty.
Speaking about the release, Minister Humphreys noted:
“We are all concerned about rising costs and prices arising from the war in Ukraine. However, we can take some comfort that these statistics from the CSO yet again confirm the effectiveness of our system of social transfers both in helping those most at risk and in reducing inequality. They also show that we are making progress towards what is a very demanding target to reduce consistent poverty to 2% or less by 2025. Without social transfers, the at risk of poverty rate would have been 38.6%. Social transfers reduced this to 11.6%. This represents a 70% reduction on the at risk of poverty rate in 2021. Ireland is consistently one of the best performing EU countries in reducing poverty through social transfers.”
The Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) is an annual survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) of a representative sample of about 5,000 households or about 12,000 individuals in Ireland. The survey collects information on the income and living conditions of different households in Ireland, in order to derive indicators on poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. It is carried out in every EU country under EU legislation and commenced in Ireland in June 2003. The findings of the 2021 survey can be found at: www.cso.ie. This release presents results based on 2020 income data.
Basic deprivation: People are regarded as experiencing basic deprivation if they live in a household deprived of 2 or more of the 11 basic deprivation items because they could not afford them (that is, not by choice). The figure in 2021 was 13.8%.
At-risk-of-poverty: People are regarded as being at-risk-of-poverty if their equivalised income is below 60% of the median income. In 2021, the at-risk-of poverty threshold was €15,158 per annum or €290.49 per week for a single person. The at-risk-of-poverty figure in 2021 was 11.6%.
Consistent poverty is the measure used to set the national social target for poverty reduction. It is the overlap of at-risk-of poverty and basic deprivation. The consistent poverty rate was 4% in 2021.
Poverty reduction effect of social transfers: The impact of social transfers is measured by the percentage reduction, in absolute and relative terms, in the at-risk-of-poverty rate as a result of social transfers (excluding pensions). In 2021 the poverty reduction effect was 70%. Social transfers are generally categorised in the Survey on Income and Living Conditions as unemployment benefits, old-age benefits, occupational pensions, children/family related allowances, housing allowances and other social transfers such as survivors, sickness, or disability benefits.