Over 9 per cent of the population is classed as consistently poor, with 23 per cent at risk of poverty, according to a major new survey.
People living on their own and lone-parent households are most at risk of poverty, the EU survey on income and living conditions (EU-SILC), published yesterday, reveals.
People at risk of poverty are living in households where the income is less than 60 per cent of the average at an individual level.
The survey, covering the last six months of 2003, shows that people living alone are most at risk, with almost 45 per cent below the 60 per cent threshold.
Adults and children living in lone-parent households were also a high-risk group at just over 42 per cent.
Where the risk of poverty was combined with an element of enforced deprivation, the survey showed that 9.4 per cent of people were consistently poor.
This definition meant that their income was below the 60 per cent threshold plus they lacked at least one of eight basic deprivation indicators.
These indicators were, for example, a household unable to afford two pairs of strong shoes, a roast once a week, new clothes, without heating at some stage in the year, or debt problems from ordinary living expenses.
A high level of consistent poverty was shown for children under the age of 15, at 14. 6 per cent.
Children living in lone-parent households showed the highest consistent poverty rate at 32 per cent, followed by those living in other households with children at 16.6 per cent. Households with one adult had a consistent poverty rate of 12 per cent.
For unemployed persons, the consistent poverty rate was 26.4 per cent, compared to 3.5 per cent of those with jobs. The ill or disabled had a consistent poverty rate at just under 21 per cent.
The survey noted that almost 60 per cent of those at risk of poverty did not report deprivation. Over 77 per cent of adults and children living in lone-parent households at risk of poverty reported deprivation.
This contrasted with persons living on their own, where only 27 per cent at risk reported deprivation.
The top income group had almost five times more income than the lowest.
The average weekly gross income of households in the lowest income group was €121.58, with 94 per cent receiving social benefits. This was in sharp contrast to the top income group where almost 97 per cent of the total weekly income of €2,398.70 was from direct income.
The gross annual household income averaged over all households was estimated to be just over €46,000 in 2003, the equivalent to an average of €883 per week. Total disposable households income which is net of income tax and social contributions was almost €36,000 per annum or €688 per week.
After adjusting the income figures for household size, the total disposable household income averaged across all persons was €17,800 or €341 per week.
The Republic of Ireland is the first EU member-state to complete the survey.
The data, collated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), will be used to monitor and evaluate progress towards achieving the targets set out in the National Anti-Poverty Strategy (NAPS).
Survey: methodology
The EU-SILC survey replaced the Living in Ireland Survey (LIIS) conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in 2001. The ESRI survey showed that the consistent poverty rate was around 5 per cent. However, the organisations yesterday stressed that the figures could not be compared.
They stated that the methodology used in the two surveys was different. For example, the question format used in EU-SILC was different to that used in the LIIS in that it was a direct question approach. The LIIS was also a panel survey, where the same households were surveyed over a number of years, whereas in the new survey households were interviewed for the first time.
The new survey stated: "In conclusion, there is a major discontinuity between the surveys in the measurement of deprivation and consistent poverty.
"As a consequence of this, no conclusions can therefore be drawn regarding the direction of scale of any real changes between 2001 and 2003."