New research from the Central Statistics Office show that the proportion of people who rate their overall life satisfaction as “high” has increased from 24.4% in 2022 to 28.9% in 2023.
A greater proportion of men (32.1%) reported high levels of overall life satisfaction when compared with women (25.9%), the CSO noted.
People aged 65 years and over were the most likely to rate their overall life satisfaction as high at 35.8%.
The information is contained in the CSO’s Well-being Information Hub, which was launched in October 2021 and contains 35 indicators across 11 areas which include the economy, the environment and society.
It attempts to answer essential questions such as how we are doing as a country, as communities and as individuals.
In its latest update, the CSO said the employment rate of 74.4% in the second quarter of this year was 5.5 percentage points higher than the rate of 68.9% in the second quarter of 2019, while mean weekly earnings increased by 24% between 2018 and 2023 from €722 to €896.
Today’s CSO figures also show that the at risk of poverty rate after rent and mortgage interest fell to 18% in 2023 compared with 22% in 2022.
But 17.9% of households with one adult and children aged under 18 years had great difficulty making ends meet last year, up from 9.7% for the same group in 2022. The CSO said this compared with 5.8% for households of two adults, with one to three children aged under 18 years.
Meanwhile, 80% of people aged 15 and over were satisfied with how democracy works in Ireland in 2024, compared with the EU average of 58%.
On housing, the CSO said the number of new homes rose by 1.4% in the 12 months to September 2024 from 31,400 new dwellings to 31,900 – an increase of 59% compared with the 12 months up to September 2019.
Some 99% of domestic buildings constructed between 2020 and 2023 had an A Building Energy Rating (BER). As of 2023 13% of all dwellings that had been assessed had an A rating, 14% had a B rating and 34% had a C rating.
On environmental issues, the CSO said the proportion of waste generated that was sent to landfill was 15.9% in 2021, down from 25.7% in 2016, and from 47.6% in 2011.
Total greenhouse gases fell by 4% between 2017 and 2022, down from 63.1 million tonnes to 60.6 million tonnes.
But over the years from 2016 to 2021, 52% of Ireland’s rivers were assessed as having high or good water quality, down from 57% in the years from 2010-2015.
Article Source – ‘High’ life satisfaction rate rises from 24% in 2022 to 29% last year – CSO – RTE
