Seven per cent of the population face a significant risk of experiencing deprivation, according to a report published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) yesterday.
The publication identifies five dimensions of poverty: basic items, consumption, housing, health and environment; and also takes into account a range of living conditions.
A total of 7 per cent of people experience a "distinctive risk" of deprivation in relation to all five of these categories.
The report states that long periods of unemployment and illness or disability are "powerful predictors" in terms of this maximal deprivation, while education and being an urban local authority tenant are also decisive factors.
Multiple Disadvantage and Multiple Deprivation, written by Christopher T Whelan, Bertrand Maître and Brian Nolan, is based on the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey.
It finds that farmers, local authority tenants and those without educational qualifications, particularly those in rural areas, are most at risk of poverty in terms of health and housing.
Those most at risk of lifestyle deprivation are the unemployed, lone parents, people with less than a Leaving Cert education and rural local authority tenants.
The study finds that people that experience one form of deprivation are likely to experience another but that less than 1 per cent of people are deprived in all five categories.
Some 8 per cent experience deprivation in three dimensions of the study, 5 per cent are at a relatively high risk in relation to health and housing and 6 per cent display a "distinct level of risk" in relation to lifestyle deprivation.
Eighty per cent of the population is categorised as having a low level risk of experiencing poverty in all five areas in the future.
The report concludes that its findings act "as a counter to the sometimes despairing tone of commentary focusing on a so-called 'underclass' entirely detached from the mainstream of society".
The authors say that the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion addresses the need to focus on those who are experiencing exposure to or a heightened risk of "very particular types of deprivation", such as in health and housing.
However, Robin Hanan, co-ordinator of the European Anti-Poverty Network in Ireland,rejected this finding.
He said there were no concrete targets to reduce poverty for groups such as lone parents and that the objective of eliminating long-term unemployment had been "abandoned entirely".