The primary focus of the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) is the collection of information on the income and living conditions of different types of households in Ireland, in order to derive indicators on poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. It is a voluntary survey (for selected households). Up until 2020 the SILC was carried out under EU legislation (Council Regulation No 1177/2003) and commenced in Ireland in June 2003. On 01/01/2021 Council Regulation No 1177/2003 was repealed by Regulation (EU) 2019/1700. Information is collected from January to June with household interviews being conducted on a weekly basis. The income reference period for SILC is the previous calendar year. Therefore, the income referenced for the 2024 survey spans the period from January to December 2023. In 2024, the achieved sample size was 4,885 households and 12,066 individuals. In 2021 the European legislative basis (Regulation No 1177/2003) for the production of statistics on income and living conditions has been repealed by Regulation 2019/1700. This new framework regulation establishes a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected by samples. In order to meet the requirements of the new regulation, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) introduced changes to many SILC business processes. These changes have resulted in a break in the SILC time series for 2020.Data from 2020 onwards is not directly comparable with data from 2004-2019. To make the difference clear, national use variables from 2020 onwards have been re-named. Please note: SILC AMF data is cross-sectional microdata in which household and/or individuals cannot be tracked over time. The household id variables in each cross sectional file are randomly generated and cannot be linked between yearly datasets
Probability: Simple random, Probability: Cluster, Probability: Multistage. In 2022 a new sampling methodology (which was further refined in 2023) was introduced to ensure SILC will be able to meet the precision requirements specified in the IESS regulation. Waves 1, 2 and 3 of the SILC 2024 sample were selected using this methodology. In SILC 2024 Wave 4 , 5 and 6 comes from the 2018 sampling frame. The following is a brief overview of the revised SILC sample methodology, from which Wave 1 of SILC 2024 was selected: The SILC sample is a Stratified Simple Random Sample (SSRS). The sample is stratified by county and 10 equivalised income bands. Households were selected using probability proportional to size (PPS) of each strata. The sampling frame is the 2016 Census, excluding households previously sampled for other social surveys. Including longitudinal cases (waves -2-6), 12,000 households were selected for interview. The Wave 1 sample methodology for SILC in 2022 was the same as the method used in 2023 with the following exception. In 2023, households were selected using probability proportional to size (PPS) of each strata. In 2022 households were selected using Neyman allocation. This involved allocating the sample across the strata according to the variability of income, where strata with large variance were allocated more of the sample. The following is a brief overview of the 2014 SILC sample methodology, from which Waves 4-6 of SILC 2024 were selected: The SILC sample is a multi-stage cluster sample resulting in all households in Ireland having an equal probability of selection. The sample is stratified by NUTS4 and quintiles derived from the Pobal HP (Haase and Pratschke) Deprivation Index. In the 2018 sample the clusters are based on Census Enumeration Areas, rather than the Household Survey Collection Unit Small Areas used in the 2014 sample. A sample of 1,200 blocks (i.e. Census Enumeration Areas, Census 2016) from the total population of blocks is selected. Blocks are selected using probability proportional to size (PPS), where the size of the block is determined by the number of occupied households on Census night 2016. 100 households from each block are selected at random to be retained for selection within each block. All occupied households on Census night 2016 within each block are eligible for selection in the SILC sample. Households within blocks are selected using simple random sampling without replacement (SRS) for inclusion in the survey sample.
Face-to-face interview: CAPI/CAMI
Telephone interview: CATI
