Despite some improvements, deep inequalities in wellbeing persist

‘Wellbeing: Measuring What Matters 2025’ provides an independent assessment of wellbeing in Ireland. Using indicators that reflect the lived experiences of individuals and communities, the report offers an inclusive and equitable framework for measuring progress.  The  report finds that while Ireland has made progress in several dimensions of wellbeing, deep inequalities still persist. 

Measuring What Matters

While Ireland has made progress in several dimensions of wellbeing – including improvements in education, community participation, and employment – deep inequalities still persist. For instance, housing affordability continues to remain a significant and ongoing challenge, with renters and low-income households facing increasing financial strain. Income inequality is widening, and environmental sustainability indicators show little to no progress.  These disparities highlight the need for a holistic and balanced approach to measure wellbeing, one that ensures no group is left behind.  To achieve this, policymaking must address inequality, sustainability and long-term resilience.   These choices matter because they can change how progress is understood. The report uses wellbeing indicators which are more grounded in lived reality and the results point to the need for stronger, more targeted policy interventions to address existing vulnerabilities and inequalities.

Key findings:

Improvements

• Improvements can be seen in Connections, Community, and Participation, which reflects stronger community ties.
• There is also positive performance in Work and Job Quality and Income and Wealth which further indicate economic developments, particularly in reducing long-term unemployment and poverty risks.
• However, there are inequalities behind these averages which show a widening gap, with ongoing in-work poverty and persistent income disparities that disproportionately affect women, renters, and single-parent households.
• A similar pattern can be seen in Knowledge, Skills and Innovation. While Ireland performs well in some areas such as the proportion of early school leavers which has seen a significant and welcome decline, other areas lag behind such as digital skills and lifelong learning rate.  These matter greatly for wellbeing, as the world of work is changing rapidly and becoming more digital.  Gaps in equality and sustainability remain, putting vulnerable groups at risk in a digitally driven economy.

Challenges

• Housing and Built Environment continues to be one of the most serious challenges. While Government highlights increase in new dwelling completions and energy ratings for homes as signs of progress, Social Justice Ireland’s indicators such as mortgage debt burden and at-risk-of-poverty rates after housing costs show that housing affordability has worsened in recent years, reflecting a deepening divide.
• Environment, Climate and Biodiversity also show limited progress.  Biodiversity loss and the financial burden of energy costs on lower-income households, and limited progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions highlight Ireland’s continued challenges in transitioning to a sustainable, low-carbon, and equitable future.  The findings indicate a stark divide in environmental outcomes across different demographic groups and insufficient progress in achieving national and international targets. 

Conclusion

Overall, the results paint a troubling picture of societal wellbeing. While some areas show modest improvements, substantial disparities persist in areas such as housing, income inequality and climate, and progress in key dimensions remains fragile and uneven.  The overall analysis points to the need for stronger, more targeted policy interventions that address inequality, sustainability and long-term resilience to effectively improve wellbeing ensuring that Ireland’s progress is both resilient and inclusive, paving the way for a fairer and more just society.

'Wellbeing: Measuring What Matters 2025' is available to download here. 

This project has been part-funded by Coalition 2030, an alliance of 70+ civil society organisations from the international aid, domestic anti-poverty and equality, environment and trade union sectoral pillars working to ensure that Ireland keeps its promise to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, both at home and abroad.