Well-being - Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2023

Introduction

The CSO introduced changes to many SILC business processes in 2020. These changes were made to meet requirements from a new European regulation that governs the production of European Statistics on persons and households. Changes to SILC business processes resulted in a break in the SILC time series for 2020. See Information Note.

Because of the time series break, well-being results are not compared with results for the pre-COVID-19 period. The data collection phase of the SILC survey occurs during the first six months of the SILC reference year.

As part of the annual SILC survey, respondents aged 16 years and older are asked to rate their satisfaction level with their overall life and their satisfaction level with the financial situation of their households on a scale from 0 (‘Not at all satisfied’) to 10 (‘Completely satisfied’). The 2023 SILC included a module on the Labour Market and Housing. In this module respondents aged 16 years and older who self-defined their economic activity status as employed were asked to rate their job satisfaction level on a scale from 0 (‘Not at all satisfied’) to 10 (‘Completely satisfied’).

In the 2022 SILC well-being module, SILC survey respondents aged 16 years and over were also asked to rate (on a scale from 0-10) their satisfaction levels with the following additional aspects of their lives.

• Satisfaction with personal relationships (e.g. family, friends, work colleagues)
• Satisfaction with time use (i.e. time available for enjoyable activities)

The mean score for each satisfaction level indicator was calculated by adding individual scores and dividing the total by the number of individuals. In this publication, the responses for the satisfaction level indicators are also grouped as low (0-5), medium (6-8), and high (9-10).

As part of the annual SILC, respondents are asked how often they felt ‘downhearted or depressed’ or 'lonely' in the four weeks prior to their interview date. The responses are given on a 5-point scale, with answers ranging from ‘none of the time’ to ‘all of the time’. The 2022 well-being module also contained a question on how often respondents felt happy in the four-week period prior to interview, with the same answer options as the ‘downhearted or depressed’ and 'lonely' questions.

This report also provides results for two additional well-being indicators that were collected as part of the 2022 well-being module. Survey respondents aged 16 and over were asked ‘To what extent do you agree with the statement ‘I feel left out’ (Please consider your social life, work and access to public services)’, with the following answer options

1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Disagree
5. Strongly disagree

Respondents were also asked ‘Do you have any relatives, friends or neighbours who are not your household members that you can ask for help? (This means any kind of help: moral, material or financial.)’ with ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ answers options.

Overall Satisfaction Rates

The data collection phase of the SILC survey occurs during the first six months of the SILC reference year. In 2021, COVID-19 related public health restrictions were in place during the January to June data collection period, including Level 5 restrictions for more than half of the data collection period.

The CSO conducted a series of surveys throughout 2020 and 2021 on the social impact of COVID-19. Results from these surveys show how the pandemic affected mental health and well-being. See Social Impact of COVID-19 Survey February 2021: Well-being.

SILC survey results show that overall life satisfaction increased from a mean score of 7.4 in 2021 to 7.6 in 2022 and increased further to 7.7 in 2023. See figure 2.1 and table WBB01.

In the 2021 SILC survey, just over two in ten (21.4%) respondents reported high levels of satisfaction with their overall life. This rate increased to almost three in ten (28.9%) respondents in 2023. The percentage of respondents reporting low overall life satisfaction decreased from 14.0% to 10.2% over this period. See figure 2.1 and tables WBB11 & WBB63.

In the SILC survey households are asked the extent to which housing costs are a financial burden to the household. The answer categories are ‘a heavy burden’; ‘somewhat a burden; ‘not a burden at all’. Results published in Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC): Enforced Deprivation 2023 show that in 2023, three in ten (30.6%) households regarded housing costs as a heavy financial burden, almost unchanged from the 2022 rate (30.9%), but more than seven percentage points higher than the rate in 2021 (23.1%). The proportion reporting housing costs to be no burden at all dropped from 29.6% in 2021 to 21.6% in 2022 and 20.3% in 2023.

Despite the increase in the percentage of households that regard housing costs as a heavy financial burden between 2021 and 2023, mean satisfaction levels with the financial situation of the household remained relatively unchanged over this period. In 2023 the mean score for satisfaction with the financial situation of the household was 6.9, relatively unchanged from 6.8 in 2021. Grouping satisfaction scores as low (0-5), medium (6-8), and high (9-10) shows that the percentage of respondents reporting low and high satisfaction levels with the financial situation of their households also remained relatively unchanged between 2021 and 2023. See figures 2.1 & 2.3 and tables WBB01 and WBB11.

In 2023, the mean score for job satisfaction was 7.7 and in SILC 2022 the mean score for satisfaction with personal relationships and time use (time available for enjoyable activities) were 8.3 and 6.9 respectively. See table WBB01.