Category: Social conditions

2011 Census Results

Today the CSO begin their release of the detailed results (schedule) from last April’s Census with the publication of This is Ireland (Part 1).  There is lots of information in the volume and here is just one table that reflects a point made in the press release.

I couldn’t see the equivalent 1996 numbers in a quick search and the category on “Being purchased from a Local Authority” was not used in the 2011 Census so the “Rented from Local Authority” figure is presumably the sum of earlier categories.  The “Rented from a Voluntary/Cooperative Body” first appeared in the 2006 Census and the initial number seems high. 

As the press release highlights the big change is in the number of households renting which increased from 300,000 to almost 475,000 over five years.  It can also be seen that around 35% of households have a mortgage.  There were 290,000 vacant units on Census night.

2010 Survey of Income and Living Conditions

The CSO have now released the full results of the 2010 EU-SILC.  The report gives lots of detail on income and poverty in Ireland.  One graph immediately stood out.

Care has to be taken when interpreting this as different households are surveyed each year and the composition of the households in each decile will also change.  Detailed tables can be seen in the report which can be compared to those in the 2009 release.

When looking at the annual change by household composition the following can be seen.

The largest drops are seen for households with one adult aged under 65 and no children under 18, and “other households with children”.  Drops are also recorded for other categories.

Household Budget Survey

The CSO have released the first results of the most recent HBS which was taken between August 2009 and September 2010.  There is also this press release.

Average weekly expenditure is estimated to be €810 per week or around €42,000 per year.  The release contains lots of detailed information by income decile, region, location and household tenure.

‘Tis the Season to be ….

… happy!

So I thought I would share my thoughts on how the Irish are faring on this front.

VOX article on longrun determinants of health

Here is a VOX article on my joint work with James Smith and Mark McGovern on long-run determinants of health in Ireland. The extent to which decisions made in one decade have impacts on later ones is an important area of economics in terms of examining theoretical mechanisms and working out discounted values of public policies. The extent to which modern national policy-makers can target such obvious problems as infant deaths due to gastroenteritis is limited. However, there is still a strong role for looking at the long-run effects of policies aimed at improving, in particular, childhood mental health.