Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2023
95. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Taoiseach whether data is collected on rates of child poverty, particularly in areas of deprivation, as defined by Pobal, by his Department or any relevant bodies; the methods used; and the subsets under which this data is collected. [41134/23]
View answerThe Pobal HP Deprivation index is a widely used social gradient metric, which scores each small area (50 – 200 households) in terms of affluence or disadvantage. The index uses information from Ireland’s census, such as employment, age profile and educational attainment, to calculate this score.
The CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) is a household survey covering a broad range of issues in relation to income and living conditions. It is the official source of data on household and individual income and provides a number of key national poverty indicators, such as the at risk of poverty rate, the consistent poverty rate, and rates of enforced deprivation. The at risk of poverty rate is the share of persons with an equivalised income below a given percentage (usually 60%) of the national median income. Enforced deprivation is defined as not being able to afford to buy two or more of 11 basic deprivation indicators. Consistent poverty is defined as those who are both at risk of poverty and experiencing enforced deprivation.
Results from the survey are published annually at both an overall state level and by the following demographic characteristics; Sex, Age Group, Principal Economic Status, Highest education level attained, Household composition, Number of persons at work in the household, Tenure status, Urban/rural location, NUTS2 Region. The breakdowns by demographic characteristics are restricted by the limitations of the sample size. Reliability of results are dependent on sufficient sample sizes being achieved for each sub-cohort. Unlike the Pobal HP Deprivation Index which is based on Census data, estimates from the SILC are not available at the small area level. Sample sizes are published along with the results.
The most recent results published for SILC 2022 can be found on the CSO website.
In relation to child poverty, the at risk of poverty rate, the consistent poverty rate, and rates of enforced deprivation are available for those aged 0-17. See table below of most recent results by Age Group from SILC 2022:
|
Age group |
At risk of poverty rate |
Deprivation rate |
Consistent poverty rate |
|
0-17 |
15.2 |
19.9 |
7.5 |
|
18-34 |
7.8 |
19.8 |
4 |
|
35-49 |
10.7 |
18.3 |
4.6 |
|
50-64 |
14.6 |
16 |
6.6 |
|
65+ |
19 |
12.7 |
3.3 |
