The CSO, through Ireland's Institute for SDGs (IIS), supports reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.
Ireland’s measure of persons at risk of monetary poverty after social transfers was 14% in 2022. The EU average was slightly higher at 16.5%.
The 2022 quintile share ratio of 4.1 in Ireland was lower than the 4.7 ratio in the EU. This indicates that the total income of the richest 20% was four times that of the poorest 20% in Ireland.
Ireland’s material footprint was 12.1 tonnes per capita (TPC) in 2022, much less than the EU average of 14.8 TPC.
The percentage of young people (aged 19 to 25 years) in Ireland neither in employment, education, or training in 2022 was 8.7%. The EU average was 11.7%.
Ireland’s agricultural area classified as organic was 1.7%, below the average EU estimate of 9.1% in 2020.
Renewable energy accounted for 12.5% of final consumption in Ireland in 2021, far behind the EU average of 21.8%.
This report presents data for Ireland based on the official EU SDG indicator (SDI) set published on Eurostat’s SDG database. Comparative figures at an EU level are also presented. SDI data for Ireland published by Eurostat may differ slightly from Ireland’s official data due to Eurostat’s harmonisation of statistics across EU member states.
Eurostat provides data used to monitor the progress of the EU towards reaching the SDGs. The SDI set is based on a set of around 100 indicators selected according to their policy relevance for the EU as well as their statistical quality.
For a more detailed analysis of the EU trends and a description of the methodology, please refer to the full Eurostat SDG database.
In this online publication, clicking on the title of the SDI in each section, allows the reader access to the most recently published data for the indicator. For example, clicking on this link to SDG_01_10 accesses the most up to date data for ‘People at risk of poverty or social inclusion’ on Eurostat’s SDG database.
The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) are a set of global development targets, adopted by the United Nations (UN) member countries in September 2015, to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The UN SDGs are driving the global development agenda towards Agenda 2030.
See Background Notes for more details.
1The Eurostat EU-SILC figures presented in this publication are not directly comparable to estimates produced from SILC data by the CSO due to definitional differences.
2Average of the 27 countries who were EU members in 2020.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (6 December 2023) published Regional EU Sustainable Development Indicators for Ireland 2022.
Commenting on the publication, Mary Smyth, Statistician, said:
"This latest report on EU Sustainable Development Indicators for Ireland1 presents data from Eurostat’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) database. The EU SDG indicator set was developed in co-operation with a large number of stakeholders. The indicator set comprises around 100 indicators and is structured along the 17 UN SDGs. This publication focuses on aspects of each SDG that are relevant from an EU perspective.”
Commenting on the results of the publication, Ms Smyth said:
“Data for Ireland are presented along with the average EU2 value for comparison. The official Irish data is provided to Eurostat and published on Eurostat’s official website, along with all EU member states data.
Social
Persons are considered to be at risk of poverty after social transfers if they are severely materially deprived, or have an equivalised disposable income below 60% of the national median or midpoint of disposable incomes levels. In Ireland, this indicator showed a general downward trend between 2016 and 2021 from 16.8% to 12.9% of persons. However, it increased slightly to 14% in 2022. The EU average in 2022 was slightly higher at 16.5%.
In 2022, the total income of the richest 20% in Ireland was four times that of the poorest 20% (a quintile share ratio of 4.1). In 2014, the income of the richest 20% had been more unequal, at 4.9 times that of the poorest 20%. EU average income inequality was greater than Ireland in 2022, with a quintile share ratio of 4.7.
Economic
The material footprint, also referred to as raw material consumption (RMC), represents the global demand for the extraction of materials (minerals, metal ore, biomass, fossil energy materials) brought about by consumption of goods and services. Ireland’s material footprint was 12.1 tonnes per capita (TPC) in 2022.
The percentage of young people (aged 19 to 25 years) in Ireland neither in employment, education, or training stood at 8.7% in 2022. The EU average was 11.7%. It is worth noting that in Ireland, the percentage of young people who were without jobs or outside education and training was 17.8% in 2014, which shows a continuing downward trend.
Environment
Ireland’s share of agricultural area occupied by organic farming was 1.7% in 2020, and this increased slightly to 2% in 2021. Organic farming was far more significant in the EU, with a 9.1% average share of agricultural land, in 2020.
Renewable energy accounted for 12.5% of final consumption in Ireland in 2021, rising from 8.5% in 2014. However, the figure was 16.2% in 2020. This is significantly lower than the EU average of 21.8%."