Latest CSO data shows the rich are getting richer and the poor are nose-diving into deeper poverty. The number of pensioners driven into poverty 2019-2021 has tripled.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) published results yesterday from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) for 2022.
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.
SILC 2022 shows an increase in household income from the previous year, but when adjusted for inflation this increase is eroded.
Key indicators include:
The consistent poverty rate in SILC 2022 was 5.3%, compared with 4.0% for the previous year, a sizeable increase in the rate of poverty over the course of a year.
The richest 20% have four times the income of the poorest 20%.
One in three adults living alone are at risk of poverty.
One in three unemployed persons (35.6%) and people unable to work due to long-standing health problems (35.2%) were at risk of poverty in SILC 2022.
This compares with an at risk of poverty rate of 5.8% for those that described themselves as employed.
People living in rented or rent-free accommodation was more likely to be at risk of poverty at 23.6% when compared with those living in owner-occupied accommodation (8.7%).
The number of pensioners living in poverty has tripled since 2019, from 22,785 to more than 66,000 in 2021.