Figures and tables in How important are the unit of analysis and equivalence scales when measuring income poverty and inequality? Evidence from Ireland

Abstract

We analyse the effect of varying equivalization scales and income-sharing units on inequality and poverty statistics using Irish microdata. We find that benchmark equivalization scales result in substantial variation in the degree of income poverty estimated at the household level, particularly for young children, the elderly, along with households comprised of one adult or more than two adults. We test multiple permutations of child and adult weights in a set of hypothetical equivalence scales. Our simulation results show that over a range of commonly observed adult-child equivalence weights most of this variation is attributable to changes in the adult weight. Inequality statistics tend to be less sensitive to the choice of equivalence scale but are sensitive to the choice of income-sharing unit. Other inequality metrics, such as the p90p10 ratio, exhibit increased volatility over the business cycle at sub-household unit levels.

This article contains 20 figures and 13 tables.

Figures

**Figure 1.** Gini Coefficient. Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11. Notes: Gini coefficients are calculated using simulated disposable income (market income less taxes plus net social welfare) based on calculations from the Irish policy systems in EUROMOD using the Irish EU-SILC UDB file. Statistics are calculated over a population of households (A), tax-units (B) and benefit-units (C). Statistics are also tabulated in tables A1–A3.

**Figure 2.** p90/p10 ratio. Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11. Notes: p90/p10 ratios are calculated using simulated disposable income (market income less taxes plus net social welfare) based on calculations from the Irish policy systems in EUROMOD using the Irish EU-SILC UDB file. Statistics are calculated over a population of households (A), tax-units (B) and benefit-units (C) and represent the ratio of income of the 90^th percentile unit relative to the 10^th percentile unit. Statistics are also tabulated in Table A1-A3.

**Figure 3.** p10/p50 ratio Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11. Notes: p10/p50 ratios are calculated using simulated disposable income (market income less taxes plus net social welfare) based on calculations from the Irish policy systems in EUROMOD using the Irish EU-SILC UDB file. Statistics are calculated over a population of households (A), tax-units (B) and benefit-units (C) and represent the ratio of income of the 10^th percentile unit relative to the 50^th percentile/median unit. Statistics are also tabulated in Table A1-A3.

**Figure 4.** p90/p50 ratio. Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11. Notes: p90/p50 ratios are calculated using simulated disposable income (market income less taxes plus net social welfare) based on calculations from the Irish policy systems in EUROMOD using the Irish EU-SILC UDB file. Statistics are calculated over a population of households (A), tax-units (B) and benefit-units (C) and represent the ratio of income of the 90^th percentile unit relative to the 50^th percentile/median unit. Statistics are also tabulated in Table A1-A3.

**Figure 5.** Re-ranking from household income distribution to tax-/benefit-units Source: Data from EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11 are pooled. Notes: These show the average income percentile in the household, benefit- and tax-unit income distributions for each demographic group listed. We exclude individuals in full-time education.

**Figure 6.** Rank-rank regression coefficients Source: Data from EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11 are pooled. Notes: These show the regression coefficient of the household income percentile after being regressed on benefit- and tax-unit income percentile for each demographic group listed (see Equation 3). We exclude individuals in full-time education.

**Figure 7.** At-risk-of-poverty (AROP) rate. Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11. Notes: Income poverty rates- head count at-risk-of-poverty rates- are calculated using simulated disposable income (market income less taxes plus net social welfare) based on calculations from the Irish policy systems in EUROMOD using the Irish EU-SILC UDB file. Statistics are calculated as a headcount ratio of individuals living in households (A), tax-units (B) and benefit-units (C) below the poverty line, <60% of median unit equivalized disposable income. Statistics are also tabulated in Table A4-A6.

**Figure 8.** At-Risk-Of-Extreme-Poverty (AROEP). Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11. Notes: At-risk-of-extreme poverty rates are calculated using simulated disposable income (market income less taxes plus net social welfare) based on calculations from the Irish policy systems in EUROMOD using the Irish EU-SILC UDB file. Statistics are calculated as a headcount ratio of individuals living in households (A), tax-units (B) and benefit-units (C) below the poverty line, <40% of median unit equivalized disposable income. Statistics are also tabulated in tables A4–A6.

**Figure 9.** Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index, aversion parameter=1. Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11.

**Figure 10.** Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index, aversion parameter=2. Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11.

**Figure 11.** At-Risk-Of-Poverty (AROP) rate by ten-year age groups (2019). Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using 2019 Irish tax-benefit rules and 2018 Irish EU-SILC UDB. Notes: Income poverty rates or at-risk-of-poverty rates are calculated using simulated disposable income (market income less taxes plus net social welfare) based on calculations from the Irish policy systems in EUROMOD using the Irish EU-SILC UDB file. Statistics are calculated as a headcount ratio of individuals in a given age bracket living in households (A), tax-units (B), and benefit-units (C) below the poverty line, defined as <60% of median unit equivalized disposable income. Statistics are also tabulated in tables A7–A9.

**Figure 12.** At-Risk-Of-Poverty (AROP) rate for different household types Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11. Notes: Income poverty rates or at-risk-of-poverty rates are calculated using simulated disposable income (market income less taxes plus net social welfare) based on calculations from the Irish policy systems in EUROMOD using the Irish EU-SILC UDB file. Statistics are calculated as a headcount ratio of individuals in single households (A), lone parent households (B), couple without children household (C), couple with children household (D), more than two adults without children households (E), and more than two adults with children household (F) living below the poverty line, defined as <60% of median household equivalized disposable income. Statistics are also tabulated in Table A12.

**Figure 13.** Household level Gini and poverty rates using simulated equivalence scales, 2019 data Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using 2019 Irish tax-benefit rules and 2018 Irish EU-SILC UDB. Notes: We calculate Gini coefficients, poverty rates and FGT indices using 100 hypothetical equivalence scales based on the functional form defined in Equation 2: ${(1 + {α (S}_{a} - 1) + β S_{k})}^{γ}$ . For all scales we hold the household relativity parameter, $γ$ , as a constant at 1. We allow the adult weight, $α$ and the child weight, $β$ to vary discretely at values [0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1].

**Figure 14.** Selected Gini, poverty rates and FGT index using simulated equivalence scales, 2019 data Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using 2019 Irish tax-benefit rules and 2018 Irish EU-SILC UDB. Notes: We calculate Gini coefficients, poverty rates and FGT indices using 100 hypothetical equivalence scales based on the functional form defined in Equation 2: ${(1 + {α (S}_{a} - 1) + β S_{k})}^{γ}$ . For graphs A-F, we hold the household relativity parameter, γ, as a constant at 1. We allow $α$ and $β$ to vary discretely at values [0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1]. In Panels A, B and C we display the Gini coefficient and poverty rate for varying $α$ from 0.1 to 1 for selected values of $β .$ In Panels D, E and F we display the Gini coefficient and poverty rate for varying $β$ from 0.1 to 1 for selected values of α. In Panels G, H and I we hold $α = 1$ and $β = 1$ and allow the value of $γ$ to vary discretely from [0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1].

**Figure 15.** Re-ranking across household income percentiles from equivalization scales 2007-2019 Source: Data from EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11 are pooled. Notes: Red-line is a 45-degree line indicating a perfect match between household income ranking with the Irish National scale and the other examinable scales. In each graph the average income ranking of households under the Irish national scale is plotted against the corresponding average rank for the OECD, per capita, square root and OECD original scale. Data are from 2007-2019 EUROMOD systems. The horizontal line represents the average household poverty rate from 2007-2019 using the Irish National equivalence scale.

**Figure A1.** AROEP by age group, 2019 Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11.

**Figure A2.** Child Poverty Rate Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11.

**Figure A3.** Working-Age Poverty Rate Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11.

**Figure A4.** Elderly Poverty Rate Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11.

**Figure A5.** Extreme Poverty rate for different household types Source: EUROMOD tax-benefit simulations using system-year combinations as per Table A11.

Tables

Table 1. Parameter values of expert equivalence scales used in the analysis.

	Irish national	OECD-Modified	OECD	Per capita	Square root
$α$	0.66	0.5	0.7	1	1
$β$	0.33	0.3	0.5	1	1
$γ$	1	1	1	1	0.5

Notes: Each scale assigns a value of 1 to the first adult in the household. In all scales adults are defined persons aged 14+ years old) and child equivalents are defined as those <14 years old.

α is the parameter value given to additional adult equivalents, $β$ is the parameter value given to additional child equivalents and $γ$ is the household size relativity parameter.

Table A1. Inequality statistics by equivalence scale, household level.

	Irish National	OECD-Modified	Per capita	Square root	OECD
	Gini
2007	0.3093	0.3111	0.3275	0.3171	0.3124
2008	0.3039	0.3048	0.3250	0.3101	0.3076
2009	0.2898	0.2906	0.3130	0.2960	0.2940
2010	0.3037	0.3052	0.3274	0.3103	0.3086
2011	0.3026	0.3040	0.3271	0.3089	0.3077
2012	0.3030	0.3030	0.3262	0.3053	0.3070
2013	0.3045	0.3044	0.3279	0.3066	0.3086
2014	0.3059	0.3069	0.3246	0.3097	0.3086
2015	0.3095	0.3106	0.3277	0.3134	0.3121
2016	0.3073	0.3093	0.3239	0.3137	0.3096
2017	0.3053	0.3077	0.3218	0.3127	0.3079
2018	0.3116	0.3158	0.3264	0.3236	0.3144
2019	0.3135	0.3177	0.3280	0.3255	0.3162
	p90p10
2007	3.9917	4.1064	4.6051	4.2513	4.0816
2008	3.8100	3.9351	4.3434	4.0752	3.8987
2009	3.5104	3.6752	4.1688	3.8417	3.6839
2010	3.7582	3.7185	4.6149	3.9906	3.9139
2011	3.7629	3.7110	4.6423	3.9871	3.9054
2012	3.7897	3.8263	4.6446	4.0575	3.9127
2013	3.8137	3.8332	4.7077	4.0608	3.9630
2014	3.7456	3.8174	4.5722	4.0013	3.8864
2015	3.8418	3.9029	4.6433	4.0574	3.9358
2016	3.8590	3.9284	4.5474	3.9843	3.9679
2017	3.8742	3.9854	4.3916	4.1245	3.9070
2018	3.6817	3.8887	4.1653	4.0206	3.7438
2019	3.7099	3.9209	4.1923	4.0715	3.7606
	p10p50
2007	0.4968	0.4803	0.4638	0.4614	0.4860
2008	0.4941	0.4845	0.4846	0.4663	0.4925
2009	0.5195	0.5059	0.4892	0.4839	0.5122
2010	0.5177	0.5218	0.4573	0.4911	0.5028
2011	0.5110	0.5156	0.4525	0.4880	0.5004
2012	0.5088	0.5073	0.4624	0.4838	0.5050
2013	0.5098	0.5107	0.4597	0.4857	0.5010
2014	0.5304	0.5089	0.4815	0.4879	0.5176
2015	0.5242	0.5006	0.4765	0.4845	0.5123
2016	0.5286	0.5055	0.4769	0.4901	0.5200
2017	0.5332	0.5154	0.5015	0.4965	0.5386
2018	0.5292	0.4987	0.5030	0.4863	0.5268
2019	0.5267	0.4959	0.5022	0.4820	0.5248
	p90p50
2007	1.9832	1.9725	2.1359	1.9616	1.9836
2008	1.8827	1.9064	2.1048	1.9005	1.9203
2009	1.8238	1.8593	2.0393	1.8591	1.8869
2010	1.9457	1.9402	2.1102	1.9599	1.9678
2011	1.9227	1.9136	2.1005	1.9457	1.9544
2012	1.9280	1.9411	2.1479	1.9630	1.9759
2013	1.9443	1.9577	2.1643	1.9722	1.9854
2014	1.9865	1.9428	2.2015	1.9524	2.0115
2015	2.0140	1.9537	2.2125	1.9658	2.0162
2016	2.0400	1.9857	2.1685	1.9528	2.0634
2017	2.0658	2.0543	2.2023	2.0477	2.1042
2018	1.9483	1.9392	2.0950	1.9553	1.9724
2019	1.9539	1.9445	2.1055	1.9625	1.9736

Table A2. Inequality statistics by equivalence scale, tax-unit level.

	Irish National	OECD-Modified	Per capita	Square root	OECD
	Gini
2007	0.3519	0.3559	0.3640	0.3617	0.3530
2008	0.3469	0.3513	0.3580	0.3572	0.3478
2009	0.3345	0.3386	0.3476	0.3441	0.3358
2010	0.3466	0.3497	0.3640	0.3545	0.3495
2011	0.3457	0.3487	0.3635	0.3533	0.3487
2012	0.3464	0.3507	0.3587	0.3561	0.3477
2013	0.3490	0.3532	0.3616	0.3584	0.3504
2014	0.3457	0.3502	0.3565	0.3555	0.3464
2015	0.3492	0.3537	0.3595	0.3591	0.3498
2016	0.3453	0.3501	0.3557	0.3561	0.3460
2017	0.3438	0.3489	0.3532	0.3549	0.3444
2018	0.3459	0.3520	0.3553	0.3601	0.3470
2019	0.3475	0.3536	0.3568	0.3617	0.3486
	p90p10
2007	5.2534	5.3655	6.0483	5.4052	5.3616
2008	4.8907	5.0062	5.7276	5.2219	4.9026
2009	4.8503	4.9968	5.5215	5.2373	4.8381
2010	6.3670	6.3591	5.8516	6.5140	6.2264
2011	6.1914	6.2547	5.7620	6.3548	6.0290
2012	5.6498	5.9856	5.5196	6.2395	5.6186
2013	6.1824	6.6235	5.8646	6.9368	6.0179
2014	5.4499	5.5621	5.7726	5.7409	5.3863
2015	5.5345	5.6730	5.9153	5.8028	5.4931
2016	4.9235	5.1041	5.5872	5.1132	4.9462
2017	4.8155	4.8826	5.3542	5.0825	4.8198
2018	4.2929	4.3825	4.9087	4.6128	4.4652
2019	4.3254	4.3752	4.9195	4.6011	4.4408
	p10p50
2007	0.3876	0.3797	0.3656	0.3822	0.3874
2008	0.4009	0.3968	0.3730	0.3899	0.4106
2009	0.3956	0.3864	0.3753	0.3734	0.4022
2010	0.3216	0.3217	0.3911	0.3165	0.3333
2011	0.3282	0.3253	0.3880	0.3269	0.3401
2012	0.3670	0.3487	0.4173	0.3360	0.3799
2013	0.3373	0.3157	0.3948	0.3041	0.3575
2014	0.3795	0.3763	0.3874	0.3690	0.3888
2015	0.3792	0.3739	0.3838	0.3703	0.3853
2016	0.4242	0.4161	0.4004	0.4175	0.4285
2017	0.4420	0.4398	0.4240	0.4284	0.4468
2018	0.4788	0.4813	0.4317	0.4640	0.4610
2019	0.4772	0.4831	0.4334	0.4662	0.4670
	p90p50
2007	2.0362	2.0373	2.2110	2.0659	2.0770
2008	1.9606	1.9863	2.1366	2.0358	2.0128
2009	1.9187	1.9309	2.0724	1.9559	1.9460
2010	2.0479	2.0459	2.2883	2.0618	2.0753
2011	2.0318	2.0349	2.2355	2.0773	2.0503
2012	2.0735	2.0873	2.3033	2.0963	2.1347
2013	2.0854	2.0910	2.3152	2.1097	2.1516
2014	2.0681	2.0931	2.2362	2.1184	2.0941
2015	2.0985	2.1209	2.2702	2.1491	2.1166
2016	2.0884	2.1236	2.2370	2.1347	2.1196
2017	2.1286	2.1474	2.2702	2.1772	2.1536
2018	2.0556	2.1094	2.1192	2.1401	2.0586
2019	2.0643	2.1137	2.1321	2.1450	2.0738

Table A3. Inequality statistics by equivalence scale, benefit-unit level.

	Irish National	OECD-Modified	Per capita	Square root	OECD
Gini
2007	0.3349	0.3394	0.3463	0.3452	0.3359
2008	0.3343	0.3393	0.3452	0.3449	0.3353
2009	0.3214	0.3260	0.3344	0.3313	0.3228
2010	0.3386	0.3423	0.3543	0.3466	0.3413
2011	0.3377	0.3413	0.3539	0.3455	0.3405
2012	0.3360	0.3402	0.3478	0.3445	0.3373
2013	0.3380	0.3421	0.3501	0.3463	0.3394
2014	0.3338	0.3386	0.3429	0.3431	0.3342
2015	0.3374	0.3423	0.3461	0.3469	0.3377
2016	0.3353	0.3412	0.3426	0.3470	0.3355
2017	0.3306	0.3363	0.3388	0.3420	0.3312
2018	0.3346	0.3419	0.3407	0.3499	0.3352
2019	0.3362	0.3435	0.3421	0.3516	0.3368
			p90p10
2007	4.4002	4.4338	5.2076	4.5956	4.5393
2008	4.2636	4.2928	4.9359	4.4967	4.3459
2009	4.0852	4.1545	4.8914	4.2471	4.1958
2010	4.7436	4.7816	5.4716	5.0013	4.7445
2011	4.7581	4.7975	5.4125	5.0010	4.7251
2012	4.7605	4.8226	5.3834	4.9890	4.7690
2013	4.9895	5.0762	5.4894	5.1028	4.9735
2014	4.6032	4.5986	5.2969	4.5785	4.5006
2015	4.7012	4.6240	5.3934	4.6462	4.6178
2016	4.4432	4.4783	5.0267	4.5025	4.5196
2017	4.2395	4.2885	4.9739	4.4303	4.3977
2018	3.9946	4.3415	4.6011	4.5775	4.1221
2019	4.0122	4.3672	4.6179	4.6005	4.1333
p10p50
2007	0.4563	0.4581	0.4176	0.4473	0.4552
2008	0.4611	0.4665	0.4352	0.4514	0.4601
2009	0.4696	0.4657	0.4226	0.4570	0.4622
2010	0.4290	0.4279	0.4170	0.4129	0.4353
2011	0.4238	0.4249	0.4129	0.4085	0.4356
2012	0.4363	0.4318	0.4220	0.4217	0.4446
2013	0.4197	0.4112	0.4163	0.4130	0.4304
2014	0.4585	0.4600	0.4213	0.4665	0.4653
2015	0.4536	0.4628	0.4199	0.4642	0.4600
2016	0.4695	0.4741	0.4382	0.4748	0.4690
2017	0.5074	0.4992	0.4545	0.4865	0.4913
2018	0.5210	0.4925	0.4628	0.4711	0.5053
2019	0.5213	0.4907	0.4634	0.4699	0.5057
			p90p50
2007	2.0079	2.0310	2.1748	2.0556	2.0663
2008	1.9660	2.0025	2.1480	2.0299	1.9994
2009	1.9185	1.9348	2.0672	1.9411	1.9391
2010	2.0349	2.0461	2.2818	2.0651	2.0651
2011	2.0166	2.0384	2.2348	2.0430	2.0584
2012	2.0770	2.0824	2.2717	2.1041	2.1200
2013	2.0941	2.0872	2.2853	2.1077	2.1405
2014	2.1104	2.1154	2.2316	2.1357	2.0941
2015	2.1326	2.1399	2.2649	2.1570	2.1242
2016	2.0863	2.1233	2.2027	2.1379	2.1195
2017	2.1513	2.1407	2.2608	2.1554	2.1608
2018	2.0811	2.1383	2.1292	2.1565	2.0830
2019	2.0916	2.1431	2.1400	2.1616	2.0900

Table A4. Poverty statistics by equivalence scale, household level.

	Irish National (%)	OECD-Modified (%)	Per capita (%)	Square root (%)	OECD (%)
At-risk-of-poverty rate
2007	16.69	16.72	21.87	16.32	18.23
2008	16.28	15.75	20.74	16.17	17.32
2009	14.95	14.64	20.61	14.31	16.15
2010	18.34	17.61	24.82	15.41	19.61
2011	18.83	18.07	25.44	15.64	19.69
2012	18.66	17.57	22.75	15.65	19.28
2013	18.88	17.83	23.03	15.93	19.48
2014	16.90	16.55	22.54	16.71	17.96
2015	17.10	16.92	22.67	17.31	18.74
2016	15.65	15.97	20.65	16.54	17.59
2017	15.02	14.54	20.55	14.84	16.50
2018	14.65	15.67	20.40	15.42	16.34
2019	14.76	15.87	20.15	15.83	16.54
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate
2007	3.95	4.06	7.46	4.60	4.71
2008	3.51	3.49	5.92	3.93	3.97
2009	3.36	3.41	5.35	3.30	3.29
2010	4.75	4.58	6.75	4.41	4.62
2011	4.84	4.66	7.04	4.41	4.63
2012	4.20	3.88	6.49	3.93	4.13
2013	4.22	3.94	6.74	3.89	4.52
2014	4.49	4.06	7.12	3.51	4.71
2015	4.55	4.21	7.39	3.63	4.82
2016	3.49	3.12	7.51	3.24	3.81
2017	3.21	2.86	6.10	2.86	3.61
2018	3.17	3.01	6.45	3.27	3.83
2019	3.11	3.01	6.32	3.27	3.80
At-risk-of-poverty rate, children
2007	19.98	18.83	33.04	17.25	24.17
2008	19.32	18.00	32.32	18.16	23.45
2009	17.99	17.14	32.24	16.21	21.90
2010	21.98	20.59	39.19	16.82	27.34
2011	22.75	21.38	39.63	17.42	27.23
2012	20.66	18.80	33.35	17.00	24.17
2013	21.37	19.76	33.87	17.74	24.69
2014	20.09	19.30	34.97	18.54	24.27
2015	20.20	19.51	34.76	19.11	25.24
2016	19.77	19.83	32.74	19.73	24.86
2017	17.78	17.07	32.76	15.97	23.05
2018	18.67	18.33	35.15	16.80	23.80
2019	18.88	18.36	34.86	17.26	24.14
At-risk-of-poverty rate, working age population
2007	14.71	14.34	17.56	13.41	15.43
2008	14.23	13.31	16.43	12.81	14.37
2009	12.87	12.55	16.28	11.36	13.38
2010	17.17	16.48	20.48	14.46	17.07
2011	17.78	17.00	21.32	14.83	17.35
2012	17.97	16.92	19.87	14.31	17.80
2013	18.10	17.02	20.08	14.56	17.93
2014	17.21	16.68	20.30	15.97	17.27
2015	17.41	17.00	20.50	16.13	18.10
2016	15.36	15.74	18.25	15.01	16.43
2017	15.42	14.59	18.52	13.52	15.84
2018	14.41	14.05	17.38	13.32	15.37
2019	14.47	14.10	17.13	13.64	15.52
At-risk-of-poverty rate, elderly
2007	19.98	25.83	17.62	32.05	19.21
2008	21.44	25.28	18.36	32.14	20.24
2009	20.23	21.42	18.18	27.96	18.90
2010	16.18	16.88	14.60	17.46	15.33
2011	15.23	16.13	14.42	15.90	14.68
2012	17.89	18.37	14.30	20.03	16.24
2013	17.45	17.94	14.40	19.38	16.09
2014	8.40	9.93	6.84	16.43	7.71
2015	8.81	10.91	7.32	19.34	7.83
2016	8.26	8.85	6.61	17.22	7.76
2017	7.55	9.14	5.95	19.04	6.57
2018	7.96	18.15	5.92	22.62	6.43
2019	8.10	19.35	5.77	23.31	6.51

Table A5. Poverty statistics by equivalence scale, tax-unit level.

	Irish National (%)	OECD-Modified (%)	Per capita (%)	Square root (%)	OECD (%)
At-risk-of-poverty rate
2007	19.39	18.19	24.46	16.98	20.89
2008	20.28	18.65	23.70	17.81	20.99
2009	18.60	17.21	23.68	16.50	17.89
2010	14.96	16.19	25.19	16.55	18.85
2011	15.27	16.55	26.02	16.18	19.44
2012	15.21	16.32	21.83	16.66	16.88
2013	15.29	16.57	22.20	16.81	17.32
2014	16.89	15.91	22.44	15.89	17.24
2015	17.39	16.03	22.21	15.62	17.50
2016	17.76	16.42	22.23	15.39	19.00
2017	16.52	16.21	20.91	15.17	17.57
2018	15.64	15.25	21.13	14.70	16.95
2019	15.57	15.29	21.15	15.00	16.84
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate
2007	6.97	6.71	10.67	6.62	6.93
2008	6.57	6.19	9.71	6.23	6.51
2009	6.44	6.31	9.59	6.46	6.67
2010	7.27	7.14	8.44	6.96	7.29
2011	7.30	7.31	9.06	6.93	7.34
2012	6.41	6.42	7.41	6.50	6.35
2013	6.94	7.04	8.22	7.18	6.92
2014	6.99	6.74	9.34	6.51	7.10
2015	6.90	6.68	9.21	6.41	7.15
2016	6.09	5.83	9.03	5.71	6.15
2017	5.91	5.68	8.55	5.55	6.07
2018	5.35	5.08	8.65	4.90	5.81
2019	5.34	5.08	8.59	4.90	5.79
At-risk-of-poverty rate, children
2007	18.09	15.31	35.14	12.45	22.98
2008	19.37	16.32	35.90	14.12	22.50
2009	17.12	14.47	35.61	12.67	21.34
2010	13.61	11.73	37.40	12.15	22.37
2011	13.67	12.13	38.88	11.89	23.36
2012	13.45	10.94	30.76	11.69	18.85
2013	13.79	11.42	31.32	12.28	19.60
2014	14.99	12.16	33.27	11.57	20.56
2015	15.84	12.16	32.85	11.06	21.15
2016	16.56	13.82	33.55	11.51	22.17
2017	15.56	13.98	32.07	12.02	19.91
2018	15.68	13.70	34.86	11.91	19.99
2019	15.50	13.80	34.78	12.31	19.86
At-risk-of-poverty rate, working age population
2007	20.07	19.14	20.74	18.32	20.41
2008	20.75	19.46	19.49	18.94	20.62
2009	19.09	17.99	19.58	17.56	16.29
2010	15.36	18.11	21.71	18.43	17.92
2011	15.89	18.54	22.42	18.19	18.46
2012	15.62	18.42	19.23	18.63	16.15
2013	15.61	18.62	19.58	18.68	16.58
2014	19.63	19.32	20.93	19.52	17.87
2015	20.04	19.48	20.73	19.23	18.02
2016	20.60	19.58	20.71	18.87	20.24
2017	19.16	19.33	19.61	18.42	19.16
2018	17.95	18.01	19.00	17.48	18.36
2019	17.92	18.02	19.04	17.72	18.23
At-risk-of-poverty rate, elderly
2007	18.77	20.28	17.87	21.33	18.04
2008	19.65	19.53	19.11	20.15	19.42
2009	19.26	19.32	19.08	19.55	19.12
2010	15.95	16.07	15.30	16.40	15.58
2011	15.62	15.84	15.30	15.07	15.51
2012	17.00	17.05	15.75	17.15	16.40
2013	16.91	16.98	15.73	16.81	16.15
2014	7.22	6.88	6.51	6.94	6.84
2015	7.41	7.00	6.56	7.34	6.99
2016	6.30	6.41	5.54	6.56	6.11
2017	5.52	5.42	4.88	5.54	5.11
2018	4.68	5.28	4.43	7.11	4.47
2019	4.70	5.40	4.60	7.48	4.47

Table A6. Poverty statistics by equivalence scale, benefit-unit level.

	Irish National (%)	OECD-Modified (%)	Per capita (%)	Square root (%)	OECD (%)
At-risk-of-poverty rate
2007	18.44	17.62	24.22	16.43	19.66
2008	19.48	18.21	23.01	16.95	20.58
2009	17.81	16.74	23.20	15.99	19.56
2010	15.27	16.38	25.37	16.18	19.39
2011	15.87	16.55	25.93	16.33	19.53
2012	14.46	15.97	22.58	15.67	16.34
2013	14.58	16.25	23.03	15.83	16.63
2014	16.53	15.10	22.87	14.35	17.41
2015	17.14	15.71	22.39	14.48	17.65
2016	17.91	16.32	22.13	14.87	18.83
2017	15.67	15.88	21.15	14.82	17.02
2018	14.81	14.51	20.56	14.41	16.44
2019	15.03	14.65	20.52	14.36	16.73
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate
2007	5.18	5.03	9.72	4.85	5.23
2008	5.20	4.79	8.42	4.81	5.25
2009	5.12	4.88	8.19	5.03	5.28
2010	6.48	6.17	7.75	5.79	6.51
2011	6.40	6.25	8.15	5.90	6.44
2012	5.32	5.32	6.91	5.23	5.33
2013	5.70	5.69	7.29	5.65	5.68
2014	5.75	5.26	8.56	5.03	6.03
2015	5.61	5.24	8.42	5.05	5.93
2016	4.91	4.68	8.68	4.44	5.02
2017	4.59	4.21	7.96	4.27	5.03
2018	4.09	3.98	7.69	3.69	4.50
2019	4.04	3.93	7.54	3.66	4.40
At-risk-of-poverty rate, children
2007	17.39	15.18	35.03	12.13	21.63
2008	18.67	15.78	34.55	12.87	22.13
2009	16.71	14.00	34.84	11.88	21.24
2010	14.01	11.88	37.82	11.48	23.56
2011	14.97	12.57	38.80	11.54	23.86
2012	12.93	11.56	31.55	11.04	18.87
2013	13.66	12.37	32.34	11.49	19.65
2014	15.76	11.97	34.60	10.10	22.13
2015	16.50	13.18	33.84	10.19	22.40
2016	17.89	15.08	33.50	10.99	22.84
2017	15.65	14.57	33.04	12.28	20.23
2018	15.41	13.81	34.33	13.00	20.43
2019	15.36	13.91	34.25	12.73	20.90
At-risk-of-poverty rate, working age population
2007	18.70	17.99	20.30	17.07	18.92
2008	19.67	18.82	18.88	17.92	20.04
2009	17.90	17.33	19.07	16.92	18.83
2010	15.60	18.23	21.76	18.07	18.19
2011	16.20	18.32	22.29	18.34	18.37
2012	14.60	17.50	20.07	17.22	15.23
2013	14.52	17.63	20.46	17.28	15.41
2014	18.75	18.10	21.10	17.57	17.48
2015	19.34	18.48	20.63	17.72	17.72
2016	20.18	18.79	20.50	18.17	19.61
2017	17.72	18.47	19.54	17.54	18.06
2018	16.71	16.72	18.30	16.35	17.32
2019	17.09	16.78	18.27	16.30	17.60
At-risk-of-poverty rate, elderly
2007	19.79	22.18	18.53	24.54	18.76
2008	20.39	20.59	19.66	21.22	20.07
2009	20.06	19.94	19.53	20.52	19.83
2010	16.46	16.70	15.63	16.78	16.07
2011	16.14	16.12	15.32	16.40	15.59
2012	17.21	17.64	15.84	17.70	16.71
2013	17.05	17.50	15.89	17.70	16.45
2014	7.05	6.84	6.37	7.40	6.80
2015	7.43	7.22	6.38	7.50	6.97
2016	6.76	6.77	5.86	6.93	6.43
2017	5.65	5.83	5.13	6.63	5.52
2018	4.77	5.49	4.44	8.05	4.54
2019	4.77	6.09	4.44	8.39	4.56

Table A7. AROP and AROEP rate by ten-year age groups, household unit (2019).

	Irish National (%)	OECD-Modified (%)	Per capita (%)	Square root (%)	OECD (%)
At-risk-of-poverty rate
0-9	15.32	15.59	35.29	16.41	22.29
10-19	21.39	19.96	31.72	16.87	24.29
20-29	12.03	11.24	15.50	9.68	12.22
30-39	10.61	10.89	20.02	11.08	13.43
40-49	15.69	15.20	21.67	14.52	18.33
50-59	14.75	14.14	11.51	14.12	14.22
60-69	18.99	21.64	12.03	22.74	17.40
70-79	5.41	16.56	3.83	19.31	4.12
80+	8.94	24.92	7.49	33.94	7.89
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty
0-9	1.90	1.79	10.79	3.15	4.01
10-19	4.68	3.89	11.40	3.67	6.15
20-29	3.20	3.20	4.76	2.50	3.43
30-39	1.73	1.52	5.81	2.25	2.36
40-49	4.17	4.03	6.28	3.40	4.60
50-59	2.49	2.70	3.07	3.27	2.67
60-69	4.28	4.72	4.06	5.91	4.16
70-79	1.80	1.80	1.56	1.43	1.77
80+	3.25	3.49	1.70	4.16	3.25

Table A8. AROP and AROEP rate by ten-year age groups, tax-unit (2019).

	Irish National (%)	OECD-Modified (%)	Per capita (%)	Square root (%)	OECD (%)
At-risk-of-poverty rate
0-9	11.36	10.45	34.27	10.41	16.66
10-19	23.16	20.87	35.78	18.22	25.91
20-29	27.66	28.93	22.50	29.50	27.53
30-39	11.44	11.22	19.80	11.46	13.67
40-49	15.61	14.66	20.59	13.25	16.76
50-59	14.56	14.81	12.57	14.54	13.68
60-69	15.14	16.42	11.48	17.65	13.54
70-79	3.09	4.07	2.94	6.20	2.91
80+	5.43	5.81	4.95	6.54	5.04
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty
0-9	2.02	1.98	12.17	2.83	3.64
10-19	9.08	7.51	15.97	6.21	10.09
20-29	12.03	13.71	11.79	13.93	12.39
30-39	3.94	3.94	7.93	4.47	4.27
40-49	4.58	4.08	7.01	2.96	4.82
50-59	3.86	3.33	4.37	3.23	3.84
60-69	5.38	5.07	5.03	5.02	5.22
70-79	1.19	1.01	1.13	1.01	1.19
80+	2.87	3.18	1.88	3.18	2.54

Table A9. AROP and AROEP rate by ten-year age groups, benefit-unit (2019).

	Irish National (%)	OECD-Modified (%)	Per capita (%)	Square root (%)	OECD (%)
At-risk-of-poverty rate
0-9	10.85	10.41	34.19	10.85	17.58
10-19	20.79	18.35	32.49	15.70	24.50
20-29	27.17	28.05	22.12	28.85	27.42
30-39	10.08	9.72	20.02	9.90	13.31
40-49	15.36	14.17	20.62	12.38	16.81
50-59	15.18	15.02	12.25	14.45	13.96
60-69	16.03	16.93	11.19	18.23	13.66
70-79	3.12	4.56	2.91	6.56	2.94
80+	5.43	6.31	4.29	7.84	5.04
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty
0-9	1.27	1.23	11.19	1.33	2.17
10-19	4.75	3.72	12.34	2.61	5.74
20-29	12.25	13.93	11.96	14.29	12.51
30-39	1.75	1.78	6.57	2.03	2.06
40-49	3.40	3.21	6.07	2.09	3.60
50-59	3.51	2.89	4.19	2.99	3.48
60-69	5.22	5.04	4.87	4.88	5.22
70-79	1.19	1.19	1.13	1.01	1.19
80+	2.87	3.18	1.88	3.18	2.54

Table A10. Size of income-sharing unit (2019).

	Household unit	Tax-unit	Benefit-unit
0-9	4.16	3.93	4.05
10-19	4.40	3.80	3.99
20-29	3.78	1.61	1.70
30-39	3.30	2.71	2.97
40-49	3.55	3.13	3.27
50-59	3.17	2.53	2.57
60-69	2.13	1.77	1.78
70-79	1.80	1.59	1.60
80+	1.59	1.36	1.37
Total	3.34	2.89	2.78

Table A11. Tax-benefit systems and Irish EU-SILC data years used.

Tax-benefit system	SILC Data Used in Simulations
2007	2007
2008	2008
2009	2008
2010	2010
2011	2010
2012	2012
2013	2012
2014	2015
2015	2015
2016	2016
2017	2017
2018	2018
2019	2018

Table A12. AROP and AROEP rate by households type.

	Irish National (%)	OECD-Modified (%)	Per capita (%)	Square root (%)	OECD (%)
At-risk-of-poverty rate, single households
2007	26.15	36.08	13.07	44.57	22.82
2008	24.90	32.81	13.26	42.97	20.83
2009	21.87	28.54	13.27	37.62	19.36
2010	21.84	30.70	12.50	34.13	17.03
2011	21.88	30.54	12.48	33.14	17.23
2012	26.99	34.28	14.78	36.92	22.01
2013	26.56	34.40	14.83	36.35	21.57
2014	22.03	30.20	9.70	40.33	16.39
2015	22.28	30.99	9.60	43.99	17.77
2016	19.78	26.92	9.05	40.45	17.80
2017	21.22	26.47	6.96	41.39	16.21
2018	22.26	36.79	7.22	44.80	19.68
2019	22.31	38.52	7.05	45.77	19.83
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate, single households
2007	12.39	13.04	9.32	15.00	11.10
2008	12.34	13.26	9.26	14.54	11.13
2009	11.37	13.27	9.31	14.08	11.09
2010	11.72	12.36	9.99	13.09	11.02
2011	11.63	12.41	10.05	12.74	11.02
2012	13.07	14.69	11.20	15.57	12.71
2013	13.42	14.66	11.53	15.40	13.09
2014	8.09	9.64	6.70	10.12	7.58
2015	8.54	9.49	6.67	10.07	7.51
2016	8.03	9.05	5.96	9.71	7.69
2017	5.27	6.74	3.89	7.20	4.83
2018	5.62	6.55	4.07	8.38	5.48
2019	5.60	6.51	3.95	8.53	5.48
At-risk-of-poverty rate, lone parent households
2007	29.65	31.87	49.25	49.06	38.21
2008	33.73	36.64	48.92	56.33	44.28
2009	30.92	33.73	48.59	54.05	37.98
2010	32.21	38.85	59.59	44.28	40.56
2011	34.24	38.35	59.87	44.60	40.64
2012	27.54	31.98	42.10	40.54	33.88
2013	29.56	33.14	42.85	40.54	34.91
2014	24.76	29.44	48.51	52.13	34.09
2015	24.98	30.43	48.89	52.49	34.09
2016	22.24	29.61	46.72	53.46	36.68
2017	35.32	41.94	54.60	52.99	48.42
2018	22.26	32.33	52.10	45.53	35.22
2019	22.26	32.33	54.46	47.37	34.49
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate, lone parent households
2007	1.09	1.09	25.46	13.56	1.67
2008	0.00	0.66	24.47	15.86	1.33
2009	0.00	0.33	21.21	1.35	0.66
2010	0.09	0.09	9.78	2.02	0.50
2011	0.09	0.09	10.39	2.02	0.50
2012	1.96	1.96	10.26	4.67	2.25
2013	3.97	3.97	11.69	4.67	4.26
2014	1.64	1.64	15.10	2.34	1.64
2015	1.64	1.64	15.30	2.66	2.20
2016	1.19	1.19	16.10	1.44	1.19
2017	0.00	0.00	23.58	7.94	1.48
2018	2.05	2.05	19.07	12.06	5.81
2019	2.05	2.05	19.07	11.91	5.81
At-risk-of-poverty rate, couple without children households
2007	15.71	16.78	12.69	19.18	14.73
2008	16.71	16.71	12.02	18.06	15.00
2009	15.26	15.26	11.33	16.70	13.55
2010	14.87	14.24	11.01	15.57	12.90
2011	14.74	14.63	11.00	15.34	13.03
2012	13.65	13.13	9.58	13.91	11.86
2013	13.16	12.96	9.70	13.94	11.75
2014	11.48	11.48	8.84	12.74	10.78
2015	11.93	12.01	9.27	12.90	11.08
2016	12.13	12.36	9.99	12.88	11.76
2017	10.74	10.68	8.79	11.78	9.92
2018	10.94	11.48	8.99	11.86	9.65
2019	11.19	11.50	8.81	12.42	9.72
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate, couple without children households
2007	6.76	7.03	5.59	7.54	6.33
2008	5.54	5.54	3.71	6.02	4.96
2009	4.89	4.89	3.56	5.49	4.02
2010	6.15	6.13	3.97	6.17	5.15
2011	6.13	6.13	4.03	6.15	5.20
2012	5.40	5.40	3.80	5.51	4.72
2013	5.31	5.31	3.80	5.40	4.58
2014	3.52	3.52	2.76	3.68	3.23
2015	3.62	3.62	2.93	3.88	3.17
2016	3.95	3.95	3.04	4.55	3.41
2017	3.22	3.22	2.51	3.36	2.94
2018	3.87	3.87	3.14	4.01	3.73
2019	3.89	3.89	3.14	4.12	3.62
At-risk-of-poverty rate, couple with children households
2007	13.17	13.35	26.13	13.98	17.38
2008	13.50	13.61	22.89	14.13	16.98
2009	11.53	12.27	23.54	13.41	16.45
2010	12.53	11.94	28.36	13.09	18.05
2011	13.44	13.44	29.27	13.89	18.22
2012	12.73	12.35	25.62	13.04	15.99
2013	13.06	12.41	26.10	13.68	16.73
2014	11.95	11.95	26.82	12.80	16.86
2015	11.88	12.29	26.91	13.67	18.10
2016	11.92	12.25	23.98	13.79	16.74
2017	9.28	9.00	24.49	9.87	13.24
2018	12.54	12.54	28.21	12.99	16.03
2019	12.24	12.36	27.58	13.37	16.43
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate, couple with children households
2007	1.93	2.17	9.66	2.90	3.60
2008	1.67	1.71	7.91	1.88	2.80
2009	1.73	1.73	6.22	1.84	1.94
2010	1.56	1.56	4.79	1.56	2.07
2011	1.74	1.74	5.05	1.60	2.07
2012	1.43	1.43	5.67	1.43	1.95
2013	1.43	1.43	5.80	1.43	2.06
2014	2.40	2.40	7.00	2.74	3.07
2015	2.58	2.64	7.21	2.79	3.32
2016	0.81	0.81	8.04	1.12	1.77
2017	1.38	1.38	6.72	1.60	1.73
2018	1.71	1.71	7.35	2.15	3.17
2019	1.70	1.71	7.14	2.15	3.17
At-risk-of-poverty rate, more than two adults without children households
2007	13.06	11.62	13.51	7.44	12.55
2008	11.40	9.50	10.79	6.68	10.74
2009	11.04	9.29	10.66	5.23	10.63
2010	17.91	13.29	17.74	6.72	15.35
2011	18.67	13.29	18.77	7.15	15.96
2012	20.14	16.16	20.21	8.70	19.50
2013	20.40	15.86	20.52	8.40	19.50
2014	18.06	14.63	17.73	10.99	16.16
2015	17.70	15.08	17.84	10.89	16.76
2016	13.19	11.26	14.07	7.84	12.41
2017	15.08	12.50	16.50	9.03	14.10
2018	11.46	9.96	11.69	7.62	11.18
2019	11.46	10.00	11.69	7.74	11.34
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate, more than two adults without children households
2007	1.97	1.97	2.06	1.56	1.97
2008	1.62	1.53	1.55	1.12	1.62
2009	1.50	1.48	1.50	1.03	1.48
2010	4.10	3.63	4.32	2.85	3.63
2011	4.30	3.63	4.48	2.85	3.63
2012	4.26	3.25	4.23	3.13	3.67
2013	4.20	3.25	4.21	3.13	4.04
2014	6.01	5.12	5.91	2.90	5.64
2015	6.53	5.60	5.85	3.15	5.85
2016	4.21	3.10	4.44	2.53	4.21
2017	3.41	2.30	3.86	1.52	3.41
2018	2.61	2.53	3.82	1.10	2.53
2019	2.61	2.53	3.62	1.10	2.53
At-risk-of-poverty rate, more than two adults with children households
2007	21.89	18.15	37.17	11.73	26.21
2008	20.77	16.14	42.60	12.26	24.73
2009	20.07	16.19	41.85	9.07	22.24
2010	27.69	25.66	45.24	15.15	33.40
2011	27.69	25.76	46.01	15.34	32.35
2012	27.02	22.42	37.74	15.33	29.41
2013	27.79	24.28	37.85	16.66	29.44
2014	27.01	24.55	41.68	17.80	29.69
2015	28.17	24.31	41.56	17.91	30.38
2016	26.66	25.35	39.39	18.74	30.30
2017	22.16	19.23	36.42	12.78	27.61
2018	21.63	18.06	39.03	10.47	27.89
2019	22.44	18.41	38.21	10.50	28.24
At-risk-of-extreme-poverty rate, more than two adults with children households
2007	3.95	3.65	10.41	2.35	6.78
2008	3.53	2.93	7.52	1.90	5.55
2009	3.95	3.35	7.63	1.90	4.33
2010	6.73	6.08	14.82	5.32	7.35
2011	6.73	6.29	15.72	5.42	7.35
2012	3.46	2.09	11.39	1.26	3.99
2013	3.09	2.09	12.18	1.26	5.18
2014	5.96	3.70	13.50	2.25	7.31
2015	4.87	3.51	14.64	2.25	7.31
2016	4.48	3.25	15.94	3.10	5.62
2017	5.32	3.97	10.82	2.77	7.55
2018	4.16	2.60	12.46	2.10	5.67
2019	3.81	2.60	12.33	1.93	5.59