33.1 per cent of the surveyed population stated that their household could not afford to pay for a one-week annual holiday away from home. Furthermore, 15.7 per cent declared that their household would not be able to settle an unexpected financial expense of €770 and over.
Moreover, 7.8 per cent do not afford to keep the home adequately warm in winter and a further 7.8 per cent of the respondents stated that their household was in arrears on mortgage or rent payments, utility bills, hire purchase instalments or other loan payments.
This data emerged today from the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions Survey (EU-SILC), which is a harmonised statistical enquiry which aims to collect comparable data on income, health and disability, employment, and material deprivation.
In 2021, it was revealed that less than 6.1 per cent of the surveyed population said that their household could not afford very basic needs, such as replacing worn-out clothes with new (not second-hand) ones, or, owning two pairs of properly-fitting shoes (including a pair of all-weather shoes).
With reference to the indicators which reflect the quality of life, 7.7 per cent indicated that they do not afford to get together with friends/family (relatives) for a drink/meal at least once a month, while 10.4 per cent stated that they could not regularly participate in a leisure activity (such as sports or attending a concert). In each quality-of-life indicator, the percentage of females who could not afford an item was higher than the percentage of males.
In relation to the ability to spend small amounts of money each week for own use and the availability of internet connection for personal use at home, 11.8 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively declared that these are not afforded. The 35-64 year-old cohort had the highest percentage of persons who could not afford spending a small amount of money on themselves (12.9 per cent) while 3.6 per cent of those aged 65 and over could not afford an internet connection at home for personal use.
