More than a third (36%) of Irish households have received at least one inheritance or substantial gift at some point, with 30% having received an inheritance and 9% having received a gift. The median or mid-point value of these intergenerational wealth transfers was €80,200 among recipient households.
One in five (21%) Irish households received money as an inheritance or gift, 8% inherited or were gifted their home, 7% received a dwelling other than their home; 7% received land; 1% received business, securities and shares, life insurance and valuables and 1% vehicles or other assets.
Older households are more likely to have received an intergenerational transfer at some point, with 46% of households where the reference person was aged 55 to 64 having received at least one inheritance or gift, compared with 27% of households where the reference person was aged under 35 years.
Homeowners were more than twice as likely as renters to have received an intergenerational transfer (44% compared to 18%).
Almost two thirds (63%) of the wealthiest 20% of households (top quintile) in Ireland have received an intergenerational transfer at some point compared with 16% of households among the least wealthy 20% (bottom quintile).
Households were most likely to receive intergenerational wealth transfers from their parents, with 70% of those who had received a transfer, inheriting, or being gifted it, from their parents.
Inheritances from parents had the highest value, with a median inheritance value of €100,600 and gift value of €20,300.
One in five (21%) households expect to receive an inheritance or gift at some time in the future, with expectations highest among younger households and those with higher education.
Results from the 2020 Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) show that wealth is not equally distributed across households with some categories of households accumulating more wealth than others. For example, the median net wealth of households with one adult and children under 18 is €4,000, compared to €361,800 for two adult households where at least one adult is aged 65 or over. Intergenerational transfers of wealth, through inheritances and gifts, is one factor that determines the wealth of a household. With the relative prosperity between and within generations a recent topic of debate in Ireland, this report aims to provide insight to better understand the:
This report uses data on inheritances and gifts sourced from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) 2020. The HFCS is a household survey which was carried out by the Central Statistics Office between July 2020 and January 2021. Detailed information on household assets and liabilities is collected by the HFCS, as well as data on gross income and credit constraints and information on intergenerational wealth transfers such as inheritances and substantial gifts. The HFCS is collected under the auspices of the European Central Bank (ECB) Household Finance and Consumption Network (HFCN) which designed the survey for use in the Eurozone. For more information on the HFCS please see the Background Notes.
The analysis finds that 36% of Irish households received an intergenerational wealth transfer of at least one substantial gift or inheritance at some point up to and including 2020. Three in ten (30%) households received inheritances, one in ten (9%) received a substantial gift and two in ten (21%) expect to receive an inheritance or gift in the future.
The median value of intergeneration wealth transfers of recipient households was €80,200. The median value of inheritances for recipient households was €99,200 while the median value of gifts was €15,900. See Figure 1.1, Table 2.1 and Table 2.2.
| X-axis label | Participation (%) | Median value (€) |
|---|---|---|
| Inheritances or gifts | 36 | 80200 |
| Inheritances | 30 | 99200 |
| Gifts | 9 | 15900 |
One in five (21%) Irish households received money as an inheritance or gift, 8% inherited or were gifted their home, 7% received a dwelling other than their home; 7% received land; 1% received business, securities & shares, life insurance and valuables and 1% received vehicles or other assets.
The most common type of transfer amongst households that received a transfer was money, with 57% of recipient households having received this asset as a gift or inheritance. Over one quarter (27%) of recipient households inherited their household’s main residence (HMR) while 22% inherited other dwellings (not HMR) and 21% inherited land. See Table 2.4.
Older households and those without children under 18 were more likely to have received an intergenerational wealth transfer. Households that are higher up in the wealth and income distribution were more likely to have received inheritances or gifts. See Table 2.1 and Table 3.1.
The net wealth of households that received an intergenerational transfer was €334,100, compared to €133,100 for households that have not received a transfer. See Figure 1.2 and Table 2.3.
| X-axis label | Net wealth of households |
|---|---|
| All households | 193100 |
| Did not receive interheritances or gifts | 133100 |
| Received interheritances or gifts | 334100 |
The HFCS 2020 questionnaire contained a section on inheritances and gifts where respondents were asked if the household had received any inheritances or substantial gifts at any point from someone who was not part of their household at the time of interview. Respondents subjectively defined if the gift was “substantial” and any values under €100 were removed from analysis. The household reference person was the household member most knowledgeable about the financial situation of the household, the characteristics of this reference person are used in this publication to group households into various categories.
If the household received a transfer, further details were collected including the number of transfers received, the year of transfer, sources of transfer, type of asset transferred, value of asset transferred. If respondents reported owning their household main residence (HMR) or other property, they were subsequently asked whether they inherited or were gifted the asset. Transfers between members of the household (intra-household wealth transfers) are not captured in the HFCS.
Throughout this publication, inheritances and gifts are referred to as intergenerational wealth transfers. This is the case for most wealth transfers, but some inheritances and gifts may not be intergenerational in nature, such as inheritances and gift from siblings or friends in the same generation. It is not possible from the data collected to identify inheritances or gifts that were not intergenerational.
Respondents were asked the value of inheritances and gifts they had received at the time of transfer. For inherited or gifted HMRs and other properties (where the household owned the property at time of interview) respondents were asked to provide the current market value of the asset. In this publication the value of inheritances and gifts reflects the current market value for HMRs and other properties. For all other inheritances and gifts, the asset value at the time of transfer has been adjusted using the CSO’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) to create an inflation adjusted real asset value in 2020 values.
Figure 1.3 illustrates the frequency of inheritances and gifts in 5 year blocks from pre-1961 to 2020. It is evident that there is a greater number of inheritances and gifts reported in more recent years. This is due to the composition of households, where younger households will have received transfers more recently and older households will have had a greater amount of time to receive a transfer. However, it is likely that respondents’ ability to recall transfers received in the past is also a factor. It is noticeable that the percentage frequency of receiving transfers such as money decreases to a greater extent than that of HMR and land transfers. This is likely due to the ability to recall transfers of physical and higher value assets compared to lower value transfers such as money. This recall bias present in survey responses should be considered when interpreting results.
| X-axis label | Other Assets | Land | Dwellings | Money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre 1961 | 0 | 0.3 | 1 | 0 |
| 1961 to 1965 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| 1966 to 1970 | 0 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 0.1 |
| 1971 to 1975 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 0.2 |
| 1976 to 1980 | 0 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 |
| 1981 to 1985 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.5 |
| 1986 to 1990 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.2 |
| 1991 to 1995 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 1.3 |
| 1996 to 2000 | 0.3 | 2 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
| 2001 to 2005 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 3.1 | 4.3 |
| 2006 to 2010 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 7.6 |
| 2011 to 2015 | 1.4 | 1 | 3.7 | 10.3 |
| 2016 to 2020 | 1.1 | 2 | 4.2 | 23.3 |
These are audio files with 30-second quotes from CSO Statistician with the Income Consumption and Wealth (ICW) Division, Brian Cahill, about the Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth 2020 publication.
Media outlets have permission to use the clip as long as they credit the CSO.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (14 December 2022) issued results from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) 2020 on the Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth.
Commenting on today’s publication, Brian Cahill, Statistician, in the Income, Wealth and Consumption (ICW) Division, said:
“The Household Finance and Consumption Survey is the survey that primarily collects information on the asset and debt levels of Irish households. It also collects information on inheritances and substantial gifts households have received at any point in their lifetime. From this we can assess the characteristics of the households that have received at least one inheritance or gift, the value of these wealth transfers for recipient households, and assess the relationship between intergenerational transfers and the net wealth position of households.
Which households received inheritances or gifts?
More than a third (36%) of Irish households have received at least one inheritance or substantial gifts at some point, with 30% having received an inheritance and 9% having received a gift. The median or mid-point value of these intergenerational wealth transfers was €80,200 among recipient households. The median value of inheritances among recipient households was €99,200, more than six times the median value of gifts, which was €15,900.
Older households were more likely to have received a wealth transfer at some point, with 46% of households where the reference person was aged 55 to 64 years having received at least one inheritance or gift, compared with 27% of households where the reference person was aged under 35 years. The value of inheritances or gifts received were substantially higher for older households. The median transfer value for households where the reference person was under 35 was €15,000, while the value for those aged 65 or over was €109,600.
Homeowners were more than twice as likely as renters to have received an intergenerational transfer (44% compared with 18%). The value of transfers was also greater for owner-occupiers compared with renters, with median values of €98,300 and €15,200 respectively.
Four in ten (41%) households where the reference person had a third level degree or above received an intergenerational transfer compared to three in ten (32%) households where the reference person’s highest level of education was primary school or below.
The net wealth of households that had received an intergenerational transfer was €334,100, compared with €133,100 for households that had not received a transfer.
Where on the Wealth and Income scale are recipient households?
More than two-thirds (63%) of the wealthiest 20% of households (top quintile) in Ireland received at least one intergenerational transfer, compared with 16% in the least wealthy 20% of households (bottom quintile). For households in the top quintile who received an inheritance or gift the median value was €189,700, while the median value of recipients in the bottom quintile was €6,700.
Households in the highest income quintile (top 20%) were most likely to have received a wealth transfer, with 41% having received an inheritance or gift at some point. Of households in the bottom income quintile (bottom 20%) 35% received a transfer.
What type of asset did households receive?
Money was the most common asset transferred as a gift or inheritance at 21%. This was followed by: household main residence (HMR) (8%); non-HMR dwelling (7%); land (7%); business, securities & shares, life insurance & valuables (1%); and vehicles and other assets (1%).
Of households that received intergenerational wealth transfers, 57% received money, 23% inherited or were gifted their home, and 19% got land. The type of transfer with the highest value was land which had a median current value of €176,300 for recipient households.
Who was most likely to give inheritances and gifts?
Households were most likely to receive intergenerational wealth transfers from their parents, with parents accounting for 70% of inheritances or gifts. Inheritances from parents had the highest value, with a median inheritance value of €100,600 and gift value of €20,300.
Who expects to receive an inheritance or gift in the future?
One in five (21%) households expect to receive an inheritance or gift at some time in the future. Younger households and those with higher education have higher expectations of receiving an inheritance or gift in the future. Households with debt were twice as likely to expect a future intergenerational transfer compared to those without debt.
Who is most likely to have received inheritances or gifts?
The likelihood of having received an inheritance or gift increases if the household is older, has a higher level of education or has higher income. The older the household, the more valuable inheritances and gifts received are likely to be. Having received an inheritance or gift is related to a household’s increased position in the net wealth distribution relative to similar households who had not received such a transfer.”