Ireland's Well-being Report Highlights Progress and Persistent Challenges
The Well-being Framework, a government program in Ireland, aimed at measuring people’s quality of life and aligning policies with their practical experiences. With an emphasis on sustainability and equality, the 2025 report analyzes 35 indicators in 11 dimensions. The indicators show significant advancements and difficulties but do not fully capture Irish life. Ireland has experienced advancements in a variety of areas over the past five years. Stronger government finances improved access to increased income and wealth, as well as less loneliness and increased social ties and participation. While time use was affected by longer working days, Ireland still performed relatively well in terms of work quality and health outcomes in comparison to wider country performance.
Indicators for biodiversity, climate, and the environment still lagged when compared to its global peers. In 2024 as well, more than 25% of people gave life satisfaction a strong rating, suggesting life satisfaction is still relatively high. Despite loneliness reducing by half since 2020, one-third of the population still indicates feeling depressed or hopeless. Women continue to report higher levels of loneliness and lower levels of leisure satisfaction.
Even children and youth with disabilities, immigrants, and girls in particular exhibit lower levels of well-being. Economic indicators show a multitude of outcomes. Despite a rise of 25% in weekly earnings since 2020, household purchasing power was limited by inflation. One in five single-parent households still struggles to make ends meet, making them disproportionately affected. The cost of housing is becoming more and more of a hardship, particularly for urban dwellers and renters. Stabilization and long-lasting changes have been brought about by the post-pandemic recovery.
Mental health indicators have been bettered since 2021, and between 2022 and 2023, greenhouse gas emissions reduced 6.8%. However, healthy life years and access to healthcare are both on a decreasing momentum. Although Ireland performs well overall in terms of income, employment, and education, differences in housing affordability and sustainability, environmental sustainability, and equality for marginalized groups highlight further steadfastness issues in achieving well-being balance.
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