Almost twice as many renters as homeowners find housing costs a worry, but deprivation rate falls
Tenants are nearly twice as likely as homeowners to find housing costs to be a heavy burden, but the rate of deprivation in Ireland has begun to fall after surging in recent years, new figures show.A Central Statistics Office survey on deprivation rates in Ireland for 2024 asked people about their finances at the end of the average month, and asked whether they could put money aside, had to draw on savings or even borrow. More than 5% of renters said they had to borrow money at the end of a month, compared to just 1.8% of homeowners. Furthermore, over two in five renters (41.4%) said they found housing costs to be a heavy burden compared with just under one in four (24%) of homeowners.The CSO survey also found that one in 10 people can’t afford to get together with friends to have drinks or a meal once a month, while many can’t afford a week’s holiday away. However, fewer people found themselves unable to adequately heat their home or afford new clothes compared to the previous year.The CSO uses these and other indicators to gauge the proportion of the population that are in enforced deprivation in Ireland. It also includes things like being unable to afford a roast dinner once a week, being unable to afford two pairs of properly fitting shoes, and being unable to afford a warm waterproof coat.If a person experiences two or more of these from a list of 11 items on a regular basis, they are said to be in enforced deprivation. The percentage of people in Ireland living in enforced deprivation decreased from 17.3% in 2023 to 15.7% in 2024, according to the CSO. This is still above the 13.7% in enforced deprivation in 2021, reflecting the impact of the surge in the cost of living in recent years.Despite general improvements, singles parents are still struggling the most — almost half of single parents with children under 18 are living in enforced deprivation (46.3%). Other groups with high deprivation rates include people unable to work due to long-standing health problems (38.5%), the unemployed (37.8%) and those living in rented accommodation (31.5%).Also, when it came to whether households would be able to meet unexpected expenses, there was also a divide as three in 10 (31.5%) said they were living in households that were unable to afford an unexpected expense of €1,500 without borrowing. This rose to almost eight in 10 (77.4%) for single parents, but dropped to 18% for two-parent households.One in four single parents said they were unable to afford a get-together with family or friends for a drink and a meal once a month. This was double the proportion of households with two parents.Meanwhile, 3% of people who were retired said they were unable to keep their home adequately warm while more than one in five (22.9%) said they could not afford a one-week holiday away from home last year.The CSO’s survey also asked households to rate how well they were able to make ends meet, on a range from “with great difficulty” to “very easily”.Statistician Gerry Reilly said: “The proportion of households reporting great difficulty in making ends meet in 2024 decreased slightly from the 2023 rate (5.6% and 6.4% respectively).“More than seven in 10 (73.0%) single-adult households with children under 18 had at least some difficulty in making ends meet in 2024, with two in 10 (21.5%) reporting 'with great difficulty'."
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