Just over 5% of 25-year-olds have children

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has for the first time published results from the ‘Growing Up in Ireland Cohort '98’.

GUI is a national, longitudinal study of children and young people in Ireland and describes the lives of 25-year-olds from the themes of physical health, well-being and key relationships, education, civic participation, and economic participation.

One in eight (12.7%) of the respondents contacted to take part had emigrated.

Of those in Cohort '98 still living in the parental home, more than six in ten (62.4%) were doing so for mostly financial reasons.

Some 7.5% of respondents at age 25 were living outside both the parental home and outside the region they had lived in when they were aged nine.

Just over one-third (34.2%) of Cohort '98 said they had difficulties making ends meet.

A majority (58.5%) of respondents were in a romantic relationship.

Nearly one-third (31.5%) of women in this group had been diagnosed with either depression or anxiety at some point in their lives.

A majority (51.2%) of men in the group with a degree level education engaged in drinking alcohol to a level that the World Health Organisation (WHO) categorise as hazardous or dangerous.

Almost one in five (19.9%) respondents said they had no interest in politics.

Statistician Daniel Watts said: “We find there has been little difficulty in transitioning into the workforce for this group of adults. More than 80% stated they were in employment at the time of interview while 6.3% said they were unemployed.

“As this was a few years after most would have completed higher education, we can see that almost three in five (59.5%) of our cohort had a degree or equivalent education.”

The majority (85.5%) were in regular employment, earning a median weekly salary of €558, he said.

Differences in earnings between those with and without a degree were noticeable, however.

Degree differential

Respondents with a degree earned €613 a week compared with €485 a week for those without a degree.

There was also evidence of significant income inequality already emerging, he said.

While nearly three-quarters (73.2%) reported they saved regularly, 34.2% reported at least some difficulty making ends meet.

Of respondents still living in the parental home, more than six in ten (62.4%) were doing so for mostly financial reasons. Some 3.8% of respondents said they owned their own home.

However, four-fifths (80.5%) expected to buy a home in the future.

Even those who had moved out of their parents’ home showed a low level of mobility, tending to stay in their local region (71.7%).

Nearly three in five (58.5%) reported being in a romantic relationship of some kind, 4.1% were in or about to enter a legally formalised relationship, while just over 5% had children.

More than one in ten stated they spent some time taking care of a family member (10.7%) other than childcare while just over one in twenty (5.5%) said they had no close friends.

Health and wellbeing

Nearly nine out of ten (89.1%) respondents reported themselves as having good to excellent general health.

There was, however, a decline in mental health since this group were 20.

Self-reported levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and low self-esteem had increased since 2018. More than three in ten women (31.5%) said they had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety at some point in their lives.

Women without a higher education self-reported more negative outcomes.

Almost four in ten (39%) engaged in ‘hazardous’ drinking with notably higher figures among men, especially men with higher education.

Cocaine

A majority (51.3%) stated they did not smoke nor vape while more than one in five (21.4%) said they had tried cocaine at least once in the past year.

Almost the entire group (97.7%) were concerned with the housing situation in Ireland while more than four in five (85.1%) were concerned about climate change.

Meanwhile, nearly one in five (19.9%) had zero interest in politics and the majority (51.1%) had not engaged in any significant political activity in the previous year.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents (65.6%) had also reported experiences of discrimination at least a few times a year but on the other hand, a majority (56.4%) stated they were optimistic about the future.

Most in Cohort '98 stated they were satisfied with their lives, the CSO said.