Child Poverty Target Indicators

The Dashboard of Child Poverty Target Indicators has been developed to complement the Government’s target to reduce consistent child poverty to 3% by the end of 2030. Collated by the Department of the Taoiseach’s Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office, this dashboard of indicators brings together data that reflects multiple dimensions of child poverty and well-being. Its purpose is to help policymakers, stakeholders, and the public understand inequalities in outcomes for children living in poverty.

While the national child poverty target focuses on reducing consistent poverty rates, child poverty is complex and cannot be measured by income alone. The dashboard of indicators goes further by providing insight into areas such as children’s education, health, housing, and participation in cultural and recreational activities.

The indicators examine how disadvantage affects children’s daily experiences and long-term opportunities. The objective is to highlight gaps between disadvantaged children and their peers, and track whether gaps are improving over time.

The initial indicators chosen align with the six policy areas focused on by the Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office Work Plan, 2023-2025, as follows:

1. Income Support
   Measures include at-risk-of-poverty (AROP), enforced deprivation, and consistent poverty rates for children aged 0–17, as well as for lone-parent households. Additional indicators track child-specific deprivation and the percentage of children living in jobless households.
2. Early Learning and Care
   Indicators assess access to formal childcare or education for children aged 3–5, comparing those at risk of poverty with those who are not.
3. Education
   Data includes school absenteeism, and progression to further and higher education from DEIS and non-DEIS schools.
4. Housing and Homelessness
   This area monitors the number of children in emergency accommodation and deprivation rates for children living in different housing tenures.
5. Health
   Indicators cover breastfeeding rates by socio-economic class and childhood obesity levels, with plans to develop and include dental health data.
6. Participation in Sport and Arts
   Measures proposed include reading habits, physical activity levels, and affordability of leisure activities for households with children, by socio-economic class.

To ensure the indicators remain up-to-date and relevant, they will evolve through periodic review.

The data underlying the indicators will be hosted on the CSO’s Child and Young Person’s Datahub, with new data and indicators added to the Hub as they are developed.

In addition, the Child Poverty and Well-being Programme Office will periodically analyse the indicator data to bring together the diverse areas of children’s lives and show changes over time. Click on the image below to see the latest annual data for the dashboard of indicators.