Study charts impact of childhood poverty on financial status in later life

The likelihood of deprivation in adulthood is 35%   higher among those who grew up in poverty, a new study has revealed. Picture: PA

The likelihood of deprivation in adulthood is 35% higher among those who grew up in poverty, a new study has revealed.

It is one of the key findings of a new study published today, funded by Pobal and carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

Drawing on data from the Irish and EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions at three time points – 2005, 2011, and 2019, it examines how poverty persists from one generation to the next in Ireland and in other EU countries.

The study found:

- The influence of childhood poverty on adult deprivation declines with age, being most pronounced for younger adults, and weaker but still significant for older adults aged between 55 to 59.

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

- Educational attainment is central to the inter-generational transmission of poverty, making tackling educational inequality from early childhood education to higher education crucial.

In 2019, across the EU-27, 19% of those who experienced childhood poverty attained third-level education in adulthood, while it was 44% among those who grew up in advantaged financial circumstances.

The respective figures for Ireland were 39% and 71%. Ireland has one of the lowest levels of inequality among the EU-27 with respect to obtaining third level education, though the “gap is still substantial". 

In 2011 and 2019 the proportion of Irish respondents who experienced poverty during childhood was the same as the EU-27 average; 13% in 2011, and 9% in 2019.

In 2011, the proportion of individuals within the EU-27 who experienced childhood poverty and went on to experience deprivation in adulthood was 33% while in Ireland it was 37%. In 2019, this had decreased to 25% in the EU-27 and to 31% in Ireland.

Ireland had the 8th highest level of inequality among the EU-27 countries when comparing the rates of deprivation in 2019 between people who experienced good financial circumstances and bad during childhood. This is up from 16th place in 2011.

An author of the report Bertrand Maître said the study demonstrates the detrimental and long-term impact of childhood poverty on economic circumstances in later adulthood.

“Addressing poverty and its effects requires a range of policy solutions including additional educational supports for disadvantaged children, welfare supports for families, measures to support access to the labour market for people with a disability, and measures to support maternal employment.”

Minister of State for Community Development and Charities Joe O’Brien said:

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

Pobal chief executive Anna Shakespeare said: “This report provides important information on the current Irish context and the data evidenced will be a highly beneficial resource for many cross-sectoral groups focused on the eradication of poverty."