LAST UPDATE | 17 Oct 2022

PEOPLE WHO EXPERIENCED childhood poverty are more likely to experience income poverty and material deprivation as an adult.

That’s according to a new study carried out by the ESRI for Pobal, an organisation that supports communities and local agencies towards achieving social inclusion and development.

It found that in 2019, the likelihood of deprivation in adulthood was 35% higher among individuals who grew up in poverty when compared to those who grew up in ‘very good’ financial circumstances.

The ESRI describes “deprivation” as “being unable to afford goods and services that are considered normative with respect to the standard of living within society”. 

This includes things like the ability to keep your home adequately warm or the ability to replace worn out furniture.

The report uses data from the EU survey Income and Living Conditions at three points in time – 2005, 2011, and 2019.

The survey asked respondents aged between 25 and 59 years about their household’s financial situation when they were in their early teens in order to examine how poverty persists from one generation to the next in Ireland and other EU countries.

It found that while the influence of childhood poverty on adult deprivation declines with age and is most pronounced for younger adults, it is still significant for older adults aged 55-59 years.

It also found that educational attainment is a key feature to the intergenerational transmission of poverty.

Those who grow up in poverty attain lower levels of education and this accounts for more than 25% of the association between childhood poverty and deprivation in adulthood.

Lower rates of employment and the presence of a disability or ill health among those who experienced childhood poverty were also part of the reason for the increased risk of deprivation in adulthood.

Ireland and the EU

In 2011 and 2019, the number of Irish respondents that experienced poverty during childhood was the same as the EU average.

This figure was 13% in 2011, and 9% in 2019.

In 2011, the proportion of individuals within the EU who experienced childhood poverty and went on to experience deprivation in adulthood was 33%.

This figure was slightly higher in Ireland at 37%.

In 2019, this decreased to 25% across the EU and to 31% in Ireland.

Meanwhile, when comparing the rates of deprivation between people who experienced good financial circumstances and bad financial circumstances during childhood, Ireland had the eighth highest level of inequality within the EU in 2019, up from 16th place in 2011.

People who experienced childhood poverty are also less likely to achieve third-level education than those who grew up in advantaged circumstances.

2019 figures across the EU revealed that 19% of those who experienced childhood poverty attained third-level education in adulthood. The figure was 44% among those who grew up in advantaged financial circumstances. However, in Ireland, these figures were 39% and 71%.

While Ireland has one of the lowest levels of inequality within the EU with respect to obtaining third-level education, the ESRI notes that the gap is still substantial.

Minister of State with responsibility for Community Development and Charities, Joe O’Brien said the report “provides further evidence that experiences of childhood poverty can have a very negative impact on adult life outcomes”.

He added: “As a State, we need to continue to invest more in children for their immediate benefit but also the benefit of society as a whole.

“Poverty will continue to have capacity to transfer from one generation to another unless we build on our current measures to tackle child poverty.”

Meanwhile, Pobal CEO Anna Shakespeare said the “strategic research alliance between the ESRI and Pobal provides a view to both improving the effectiveness and outcomes of certain interventions”.

She said the report will be a “highly beneficial resource for many cross-sectoral groups focused on the eradication of poverty”.

Bertrand Maître is an author of the report and said it “demonstrates the detrimental and long-term impact of childhood poverty on economic circumstances in later adulthood”.

He added: “This relationship is greatly affected by educational attainment, and also by disability status or ill health, and employment status.”

Social Justice Ireland

Alongside the latest report from Pobal, Social Justice Ireland have called on the Government to further increase rates of social welfare beyond the increase announced in Budget 2023.

Social Justice Ireland is calling for an additional €8 to be added to weekly social welfare rates, which would raise the payments by €20 compared to current rates.

In a statement, CEO Of Social Justice Ireland Dr Seán Healy said that the proposed increase in Budget 2023 was behind anticipated inflation rates.

“The €12 increase in core social welfare rates in Budget 2023 lags behind anticipated inflation for necessities in the coming year,” said Healy.

“A €20 boost was the minimum required to set Government on the path to benchmark rates to 27.5% of average weekly earnings over a two-year period. Budget 2023’s increase falls far short of achieving this modest target, leaving those on social welfare with less than a quarter of average weekly earnings.”

Additional reporting by Tadgh McNally