Poverty – the facts 2009

Information on the income and living conditions of different types of households, poverty and social exclusion is collected through an annual survey (the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC)) conducted by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The most up to date data refers to 2009. 

At risk of poverty

• In 2009, 14.1% of the populations were at risk of poverty compared with a rate of 14.4% in 2008. The change over the year was not considered to be statistically significant. 
• Children (aged 0-17) remained the most vulnerable age group in 2009 with an at risk of poverty rate of 18.6%, no statistically significant change from 2008 
• Lone parent households continued to be the household type with the highest at risk of poverty rate with a rate of 35.5% in 2009, not considered to be statistically signicantly different from the 36.4% recorded in 2008.
• More than one third (34%) of households at risk of poverty were in arrears with one or more of the following items: utility bills, rent or mortgage payments, hire purchase agreements or other loans/bills, compared with just over 24% of households in general. This compared with almost 20% of households at risk of poverty and just over 10% of households in general in 2008. 

Deprivation

Enforced deprivation refers to the inability to afford basic specific goods or services. An individual was considered deprived if they experienced at least two of the eleven forms of enforced deprivation associated with consistent poverty.

• The level of deprivation of two or more items increased to over 17% in 2009, from 13.8% in 2008.
• Almost 29% of individuals reported to have experienced at least one form of enforced deprivation in 2009. This level had increased in 2009 from the reasonably stable levels between 2006 and 2008 of around 25%.
• Lone parent households reported the highest levels of deprivation with almost 63% of individuals from these households experiencing one or more forms of deprivation compared with almost 29% at state level.
• Individuals living in households with children showed an increase in reported deprivation rates of two or more items, between 2008 and 2009. Households comprising two adults with one to three children and other households with children each reported an increase of approximately three percentage points between years.
• The most commonly reported of the eleven deprivation indicators continued to be the inability to afford to replace worn out furniture, at 16.3% in 2009 compared with a rate of 13.3% in 2008.

Consistent poverty rate

At a national level, data from SILC is used to monitor and evaluate progress towards achieving the targets set out in the National Anti-Poverty Strategy (NAPS). The key NAPS indicator derived from SILC is the consistent poverty rate which combines relative income poverty (i.e. the at risk of poverty rate) with material deprivation to examine the percentage of individuals who are in consistent poverty in Ireland.

• The percentage of people in consistent poverty in 2009 was 5.5%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points on the 4.2% recorded in 2008.
• Children (aged 0-17) remained the most exposed age group with a consistent poverty rate of 8.7% in 2009, up from the 6.3% recorded in 2008.
• Almost 17% of people living in lone parent households were in consistent poverty in 2009, the highest rate recorded among household types.
• Individuals living in households that were rented at the market rate showed a significant increase in their rate of consistent poverty rising from 2.9% in 2008 to 8.3% in 2009.

EU comparison and indicators 

• In 2008, the average at risk of poverty rate for the EU-27 was 16.5%. The rate has remained relatively stable since 2005 varying between 16% and 17%.
• Ireland (using the EU methodology) had an at risk of poverty rate of 15.5% in 2008, the 13th highest in the EU-27.
• Latvia had the highest at risk of poverty rate at 25.6% while the Czech Republic had the lowest rate at 9.0%.
• More than 17% of the EU-27 population experienced at least three forms of enforced deprivation in 2008 while the comparable figure for Ireland was almost 14%.

To download the EU SILC report for 2009 please click here

To download the CWC statement on the release of the figures please click here