SILC data 2020 to 2022 was revised on 07 March 2024 due to changes made to weights, reflecting updated household population benchmarks, because of the availability of Census 2022 data.
The data in this publication does not reflect these revisions. For revised data please see Poverty Indicators by Health Status - Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2023 or PxStat.
More than one in five (22.8%) people who said they were severely limited in usual activities because of a health problem were unable to afford to keep their home adequately warm. The comparable rate for people who were not limited was 5.4%.
One in five (20.5%) households with a severely limited household member reported that there was at least one occasion in the past 12 months where they failed to pay a utility bill on time due to financial difficulties, compared with 7.1% of households where no one was described as activity limited.
The at risk of poverty rate for people with a self-reported chronic illness was 18.6%, compared with 10.3% for those without a chronic illness.
The enforced deprivation rate for people who described their health as ‘very bad’ was 42.9%, while the rate for those with ‘very good’ health was 12.2%.
The consistent poverty rate for people severely limited in usual activities because of a health problem was four times higher than the rate for those not limited (14.1% and 3.5% respectively).
One in two households (49.7%) with a severely limited household member regarded total housing costs as a heavy financial burden compared with one in four (25.5%) households where no one was limited.
SILC data 2020 to 2022 was revised on 07 March 2024 due to changes made to weights, reflecting updated household population benchmarks, because of the availability of Census 2022 data.
The data in this publication does not reflect these revisions. For revised data please see Poverty Indicators by Health Status - Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2023 or PxStat.
The SILC is a household survey covering a broad range of topics related 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. This is the third publication from the 2022 round of the SILC. This publication focuses on poverty related indicators, analysed by self-reported health status variables. From 2022 SILC the first publication SILC Enforced Deprivation 2022 (published 23 November 2022) focused on deprivation. The second publication SILC 2022 (published 22 February 2023) focused on poverty and income indicators.
To determine Global Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI) status, SILC survey respondents aged 16 years and older were asked the following question with three answer options.
Q. Are you limited because of a health problem in activities people usually do? Would you say you are:
Respondents who answered ‘Severely limited’ or ‘Limited but not severely’ were asked a further question
Q. Have you been limited for at least the past six months?
Respondents who were severely limited in usual activities for at least six months prior to their interview date are classified as ‘severely limited’, those limited but not severely for at least six months are classified as ‘limited but not severely’. Respondents who answered, ‘Not limited at all’, along with respondents limited for less than six months, are classified as ‘not limited’.
Survey respondents aged 16 years and over were asked two additional questions related to their health. The first one related to self-perceived general health:
Q. How would you describe your health in general? Is it…
The second related to the presence of chronic morbidity.
Q Do you have any long-standing illness or longstanding health problem? By long-standing I mean illnesses or health problems which have lasted, or are expected to last, for six months or more.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (24 April 2023) issued further results from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) for 2022. This report presents results for poverty indicators for people aged 16 years and older analysed by their self-perceived general health status, long-standing limitations in usual activities and self-reported chronic illness status.
The Global Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI) measures long-standing health related activity limitations. The Editor’s note describes the questions used to derive the GALI status of survey respondents aged 16 years and older. The note also includes the questions asked and associated answer options, related to respondents’ self-perceived general health and the presence of a chronic illness.
Commenting on today’s publication, Gerry Reilly, Senior Statistician in the Income, Consumption and Wealth Division, said:
“Today’s results from the CSO’s SILC 2022 show that poverty rates and rates of enforced deprivation are higher in respondents[1] with a self-reported chronic illness, respondents who reported long-standing limitations in their usual activities due to health problems and in respondents who described their health as ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’.
[1]Poverty rates and rates of deprivation in this report relates to SILC survey respondents aged 16 years and older.
Deprivation Rates Higher in those with a Severe Activity Limitation
In SILC, the identification of people living in enforced deprivation is currently achieved based on a set of 11 basic deprivation indicators. See SILC Fact Sheet (PDF 497KB) .
People severely limited for at least six months in usual activities because of a health problem had higher rates of deprivation for each of the 11 deprivation indicators when compared with those not limited. For example, more than one in five (22.8%) people who were ‘severely limited’ were unable to afford to keep their home adequately warm compared with 5.4% of people who were ‘not limited’.
In 2022, one in four (24.0%) people who were ‘severely limited’ were unable to afford new (not second-hand clothes) compared with 6.8% of people who were ‘not limited’. Almost one in five (19.4%) ‘severely limited’ people were unable to afford to get together once a month with family or friends for a drink or a meal. This compared with 7.5% of people ‘not limited’ in usual activities.
Enforced deprivation is where a household experiences two or more of the 11 deprivation items. The national enforced deprivation rate for people aged 16 years and older was 17.3% in 2022. This rate varied greatly depending on the self-perceived health status, chronic illness status, and long-standing activity limitation status of survey respondents. The enforced deprivation rate for people who described their health in general as ‘very bad’ was more than three times higher than the rate for those with ‘very good’ health (42.9% and 12.2% respectively). The enforced deprivation rate was twice as high for those with a self-reported chronic illness when compared with those without a chronic illness (27.4% and 13.0% respectively). In 2022, more than four in ten (43.7%) people who described themselves as ‘severely limited’ in usual activities were living in enforced deprivation. This compares with 27.6% of people who were ‘limited but not severely’ and 13.4% of those ‘not limited’.
Poverty Rates by Self-Reported Health status
The 2022 national at risk of poverty rate for people aged 16 years and older was 12.7%, up from 11.3% in 2021. The rate for people with a self-reported chronic illness was 18.6%, compared with 10.3% for those without a chronic illness. The at risk of poverty rate for people who perceived their health as ‘very bad’ was almost four times higher than the rate for those with a ‘very good’ perception of their health (30.4% and 8.0% respectively). More than one in four (27.4%) people who were ‘severely limited’ in usual activities were at risk of poverty in 2022. The comparable rate for those ‘limited but not severely’ was 21.1%, and 10.1% for those who were ‘not limited’.
The consistent poverty measure is defined as people who are both at risk of poverty and experiencing enforced deprivation. In 2022, 4.9% of the people aged 16 years and older were living in consistent poverty. The rate for people ‘severely limited’ in usual activities was 14.1%, four times higher than the 3.5% rate for those ‘not limited’.
Arrears in Utility Bills and Households with a Severely Limited Person
One in five (20.5%) households with a person severely limited in usual activities for a period of at least six months[2], reported that there was at least one occasion in the past 12 months where they failed to pay a utility bill on time due to financial difficulties. The comparable rate for households where all household members were ‘not limited’ was 7.1%. Households with a ‘severely limited’ household member reported greater difficulty in making ends meet and greater financial burden of total housing costs. In 2022, 5.9% of households reported great difficulty in making ends meet. The rate for households with a ‘severely limited’ household member was 17.9% and 3.8% for households where all household members were ‘not limited’.
Households were asked the extent to which housing costs (rent, mortgage, utility costs, home insurance, and regular maintenance and repair costs) were a burden. The answer categories were ‘a heavy burden’; ‘somewhat a burden; ‘not a burden at all’. Almost half (49.7%) of households with a ‘severely limited’ household member considered housing costs a heavy burden. This was almost double the rate for households where all household members were ‘not limited’ (25.5%).”
[2]In this report, the disability status of the household is attributed according to the person aged 16 years and older with the most severe level of activity limitations.