Nearly 200,000 children living in constant poverty statewide

ALMOST 200,000 CHILDREN live in poverty statewide despite median household incomes increasing last year.

New figures from the Central Statistical Office (CSO) show that those defined as ‘at risk of poverty’ (that is, those whose income was less than 60% of the national average) were 12.8% of the population in the year past, up from 14% in 2018.

The data also highlights how the average annual disposable income of households amounted to € 43,552, 1.6% more than the figure of € 42,865 in 2018.

Despite that small decrease in people at risk of poverty in 2019, concerns have been raised after today’s release of the OSC Income and Living Conditions Survey.

Ireland’s Director of Social Justice Dr Seán Healy said that while he welcomes the improvement in poverty rates, the scale of poverty is “too high”.

He said: “637,107 people are living in poverty in Ireland today. Of this number, about 193,681 are children under the age of 18.

Despite the growth in wages, the increase in employment and the very high rates of economic growth last year, these figures show that a significant proportion of the population continues to live in very difficult circumstances ”.

Dr. Tricia Keilthy, director of social justice at St Vincent de Paul, said there was some progress between 2016 and 2017, when 25,000 children were lifted out of poverty.

However, he said with less significant figures this year, Ireland is experiencing “a reversal of a positive trend that is very worrying.”

“Child poverty must be addressed as it can negatively affect the entire course of a child’s life, limiting opportunities and making it more difficult for them to realize their full emotional, educational, social and economic potential.

“Now more than ever, with the pandemic disproportionately affecting low-income families, it is essential that child poverty is considered a political priority in all government departments and throughout the political system,” Keilthy said.

The survey also examined those living in a situation of forced deprivation, which is defined by various indicators, including having the means to keep the house warm and buying gifts for family or friends at least once a year.

The percentage of people living in situations of forced deprivation was 5.5%, compared to 5.6% in 2018.

The survey notes that the most common types of deprivation experienced by Irish households were the inability to afford to replace worn out furniture, not being able to afford having family or friends for a drink or meal once a month, and not having the money for a meal. morning, afternoon or night in the last fortnight.

People with the highest risk of poverty were people who were without work due to illness or disability (37.5%) and unemployed people (35.4%), that is, people defined as working people (4, 6%).

The constant poverty rate among children in 2019 stood at 8.1%, compared to 5.1% for adults aged 18 to 64 and 2.3% for those over 65.

It was found that just over 13% of people who lived in rented housing lived in constant poverty compared to 1.8% of those who lived in owner-occupied housing.

The survey found that household disposable income increased according to the level of education of the head of the household.

When the head of the household had an educational level of primary level or lower, the average nominal disposable income of the household was € 26,527, compared with € 66,811 for those with a third level degree or higher.

Households with three or more people working had the highest nominal average family income (€ 95,613) compared to € 24,173 for households in which one person worked.