Understanding Life in Ireland: 2022 Analysis

Ireland’s Well-being Framework allows high-level consideration and assessment of progress in Ireland across economic, environmental and social issues. The Framework includes 11 overall dimensions, from which the Well-being Dashboard of 35 indicators flows. The analysis of the Dashboard is intended to provide an overall picture of the country’s progress, using data that facilitates a longer-term view of quality of life. It will form a complementary input to the Budget process. The analysis reviews trends over approximately 5-year periods and international comparisons.

The purpose of this initiative is to provide a medium-term view of the country, and therefore data is often annual, and frequently with long lead-in times. The reference periods that the analysis considers vary across the indicators from 2018 to 2022. Where data is available both over time and internationally, this can show a positive, negative or mixed/neutral performance (the latter, in the case where the trend is positive but Ireland performs below the EU average or vice versa).

Overall, the dashboard paints a generally positive picture of quality of life in Ireland. Across the 35 indicators, Ireland performs well in 20 indicators, including the lifelong learning rate, average weekly earnings and satisfaction with democracy in Ireland. 6 indicators show negative performance, including net Government wealth, greenhouse gas emissions and experience of discrimination. The performance of the other 9 indicators are more nuanced (due to performing well over time but negatively compared to the EU average or vice versa, or in some cases due to lack of data). These include unmet need for medical examination or care and the labour underutilisation rate.

There are particularly positive indications across the Knowledge, Skills and Innovation; Work and Job Quality and Safety and Security dimensions. Only one dimension reveals a negative overall picture: the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity dimension (in particular issues with environmental quality and greenhouse gas emissions).

The CSO Well-being Information Hub also breaks down each indicator by specific cohorts, chosen on the basis of relevance, research and data availability. This allows an examination of equality across dimensions by identifying specific cohorts who experience inequality across multiple indicators or dimensions. Through an examination of this data, several cohorts were identified that experience inequality across a high proportion of indicators. These are women, single-parent households, households with lower incomes, people with permanent sickness or disability, immigrants/non-Irish, and households in rented accommodation.

Finally, certain indicators are ‘tagged’ to highlight their importance for sustainable well-being (economic, environmental, social & democratic). The performance of these indicators provides insight into whether progress is broadly sustainable (supports the maintenance of well-being at at least current levels into the future). Of the 14 ‘sustainable’ indicators, 3 show an overall negative performance. These are net Government wealth, greenhouse gas emissions and water quality.

A further three sustainability indicators have a neutral performance, indicating either a negative trend or an unfavourable comparison with the EU average. Again, negative performing indicators are concentrated in environmental sustainability.

Overall, while the dashboard provides a positive picture of the country, it points towards specific areas that suggest sustained issues over the medium-term across quality of life, sustainability and equality, which are discussed in detail in the full paper.