This afternoon.
The Central Statistics Office published the results of its Household Finance and Consumption Survey for 2018 and compared the results with those of 2013, the previous year the survey was carried out.
Statistician Stephen Lee writes:
“The results show that in Ireland, the wealthiest 10% of all households have a net wealth greater than €835,000 while the bottom 10% have a net wealth of less than €1,000. Net wealth is calculated as the value of all assets minus debt.
In 2018, the median net wealth value of Irish households was €184,900, representing an increase of 80.2% on the 2013 value of €102,600.
The median value is obtained by arranging all households in ascending order from the smallest to the largest value and then selecting the middle value. In terms of wealth, the median provides a truer reflection of the average household as it is not influenced by extreme values.
The value of the household’s main residence is a key component of wealth. In Ireland, 69.5% of households own their own residence. In 2018, the median value for households’ main residence was €250,000, up from €150,000 in 2013.
The median net wealth of households that own their own home is €287,300 while for renters it is considerably less at €5,900.
We see that wealth is more concentrated in the ‘Eastern and Midlands’ region with a median net wealth of €212,700, compared to €189,700 in the ‘Southern’ region and €146,900 in the ‘Northern and Western’ region.”
Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) 2018 (CSO)
Net wealth is calculated as the value of all assets minus debt.
means that Net Wealth can be negative. So the lowest docile is a mix of people in debt + people with very small net wealth.
The good news is very few people are in real debt (have a negative new wealth)!
It’s made unrealistic by the ludicrous “value” of houses. Fund the councils to build snug houses and flats, agree that all have a constitutional right to a home, and house prices will sink back to a sane level. Then we’ll get a realistic comparison of net wealth.
There are those who work hard and there are those who don’t.
I’ll bet there’s a direct correlation between poverty and education, education that is available free of charge for all citizens.