The proportion of the Republic of Ireland’s children living in households whose income is below the 60% of median income poverty line has experienced limited change over the past few years. While the years 2006-08 recorded a decrease from 22.3% to 18.0%, by 2011 (the latest data available from the CSO) almost 1 in every 5 children (18.8%) lived in a household experiencing relative income poverty.
Over the period 2006-2008 the proportion of children living in households experiencing both relative income poverty and deprivation (consistent poverty) decreased from 10.3% to 6.3%. However, since then the impact of the recession has seen consistent poverty numbers increase. By 2011 9.3% of the ROI’s children experienced consistent poverty.
In the latest edition of the NERI’s Quarterly Economic Facts document, indicator 5.3 examines these child poverty trends using data from the CSO’s 2011 Survey of Income and Living Conditions. New data for 2012 is due over the next few months.