Ireland a ‘clear outlier’ with large households

Ireland is a “clear outlier” in having larger households than other European countries, the Economic and Social Research Institute has said.

The research compared trends in household size between 2005 and 2021 and said Ireland was “a very clear outlier for much of the period with consistently high household size levels”.

This has been influenced by a younger population and a high fertility rate, the report found, which added that it is likely to persist as long as those favourable demographic features remain.

It suggested that these factors “outweigh the effects of changes to housing supply” but added that housing supply and a “negative influence” and that “increases in housing could well offset any change due to demographics”.

The average Irish household size was 2.74 people in 2022, according to analysis of CSO data.

The report identified three groups of countries in terms of household size.

Ireland was in the highest group with Spain, Portugal and Greece; a second group of countries in the middle range of the household size included Italy, France, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, and Switzerland.

The group of countries with the lowest household sizes were Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Germany.

Commenting on the report, one of its authors, Dr Conor O’Toole of the ESRI said: “Ireland has a greater number of persons per household relative to other European countries mainly due to a younger population. As the population ages, household size is likely to decline once sufficient, and suitable, housing is available.”

“Households in Ireland headed by over 65s are similar in size to their European counterparts. In contrast, middle-aged and particularly younger households are typically larger in Ireland,” added author Dr Rachel Slaymaker.