Child Poverty in Ireland

January 2025

A new study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), published as part of the Institute’s joint research programme with the Department of the Taoiseach’s Shared Island Unit, compares child poverty and related factors and policy measures in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The report uses two measures of poverty: income poverty, which means having a household disposable income that is less than 60 per cent of median income; and, material deprivation, which occurs when families are unable to afford at least two of five basic essentials like paying their bills on time or keeping their home warm. Over the period 2004 to 2023, child income poverty declined quite consistently in Ireland while rates fluctuated more in Northern Ireland. Throughout the period income poverty rates remained higher in Northern Ireland finishing at about 21 per cent on average in 2021-2023 compared to around 14 per cent in Ireland.

However, Ireland and Northern Ireland show a much more similar trend in child material deprivation, which follows the pattern of economic boom and recession that characterised much of the period.

Throughout 2010-2023, child material deprivation rates were higher in Ireland than Northern Ireland, however, in 2022-2023, deprivation in Northern Ireland rose to the same level as that in Ireland, to stand at 24 per cent in both jurisdictions.

The contrasting comparison for child income poverty and child material deprivation levels North and South, suggests that families on low incomes in Ireland have been less able to convert household income into an adequate standard of living compared with families at the same position in the income distribution in Northern Ireland. This could be attributable to a higher cost of living in Ireland.