Immigrants living in Ireland are twice as likely as Irish-born people to be at risk of poverty after paying their rent or mortgage, according to new research.
More than a third of immigrants (38 per cent) are at risk of poverty after housing costs, compared with 19 per cent of Irish-born people, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) 2024 Monitoring Report on Integration, published on Friday.
Migrants are also more likely to experience high housing costs – 36.5 per cent spend more than a third of their income on housing costs, compared with 9 per cent of Irish-born residents.
Despite higher employment rates, higher educational attainment and better health, immigrants overall have lower incomes, are more likely to be at risk of poverty, are particularly exposed to costly private rental accommodation and are underrepresented politically, according to the report.
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More than one in five of all households across Ireland are at risk of poverty after rent and mortgage costs, while the overall number of households unable to afford basic goods, such as clothes or heating bills, increased from 14 to 17 per cent between 2020 and 2023, says the ESRI.
However, housing affordability challenges “disproportionately affect migrants in Ireland” as this cohort is less likely to be homeowners and more likely to be living in the private rental sector. One in five is “income poor”, while 14.5 per cent are at risk of poverty, compared with 11 per cent of Irish-born people.
Migrants who come to Ireland from outside the EU fare worst, with more than 45 per cent at risk of poverty after household costs.
More than 77 per cent of Irish-born people own a home, compared with 37 per cent of foreign-born residents, with eastern Europeans and those from outside the EU least likely to own a property. More than 70 per cent of eastern Europeans live in private rental accommodation.
This high rate of private rentals means migrants are “particularly exposed to the current housing crisis and shortage of rental accommodation in Ireland,” says the ESRI. Migrants are also more likely to live in overcrowded accommodation or homeless shelters, and the State’s general housing shortage is “likely to result in longer stays for asylum seekers in direct provision and State-provided accommodation”.
Overall, migrants are less likely than Irish-born people to live in local authority or social housing. However, 10 per cent of migrants born in the UK live in social housing, compared with 9 per cent of Irish-born people and 6 per cent of all those born abroad.
Migrants are also more likely to experience poverty – 6.2 per cent are classed as “consistently poor”, compared with 3.8 per cent of Irish-born people. Some 23 per cent of people born abroad are unable to afford basic household costs, compared with 16 per cent of Irish people.
Irish-born residents earn more than their non-Irish-born counterparts, with a median income of €27,602, compared with €24,827 for a migrant worker. Eastern Europeans earn the lowest salaries, on average, at €22,820, while western Europeans top the average income scale at €33,039.
While the Irish population is highly educated, foreign-born residents are more educated, probably due to migration policies that favour visas for high-skilled workers, the report finds. Some 70 per cent of immigrants aged 25-34 have a third-level education, compared with 58 per cent of Irish-born people.
While analysis for the report is conducted using “high-quality, national level representative surveys”, these research tools are not designed to survey migrants, particularly smaller migrant groups, warns the ESRI. The State’s poor collection of ethnicity data also makes it difficult to carry out large surveys of migrant communities.
