Irish households experiencing enforced deprivation were substantially more likely to describe healthcare costs as a heavy financial burden in the CSO's Health and Lifestyle results for 2025. Published on 13 October 2026, the figures are a new release about an earlier survey year, rather than a measurement of this week's bills. [1]

Among the relevant households experiencing deprivation, 23.1% described medical care costs as a heavy burden, compared with 6.8% of those not experiencing deprivation. For dental care, the corresponding figures were 35.2% and 6.1%. Those comparisons show a pronounced divide in reported pressure on household finances. [1]

Who was asked matters

The cost questions applied to households where at least one person had used or needed the relevant type of care in the preceding 12 months. Respondents assessed whether the cost was a heavy burden, somewhat of a burden or no burden. These percentages should not be presented as the share of every household in Ireland paying a particular bill or as a count of appointments missed. [2]

There is also an important distinction between the two burden measures. A headline combining heavy and moderate pressure answers a different question from one discussing heavy pressure alone. Readers comparing reports should check that both use the same response category, type of care and household group.

The wider financial picture

For relevant households nationally, 35.5% reported medical expenses as either a heavy or somewhat of a burden in 2025. The equivalent figure was 33.1% in 2022. The combined measure for dental expenses rose from 28.3% to 33.4%, while the medicine-cost measure rose from 24.0% to 28.1%. The CSO separately examines medical care, dental care and medicines; adding the percentages together would not produce a meaningful total. [2]

What deprivation means here

In the survey, enforced deprivation concerns an inability to afford basic goods and activities. The CSO uses eleven indicators, with experiencing at least two forming the deprivation measure. It is different from being below the income threshold used for the separate at-risk-of-poverty indicator. The background notes explain these classifications and the health module's questions. [3]

The publication forms part of the Survey on Income and Living Conditions. Its strength is that it examines health alongside income and household circumstances. The CSO cautions that results from different health surveys can vary because of their questions, coverage, timing and collection methods. They should not be treated as interchangeable. [3]

For public debate, the useful question is therefore not simply whether average healthcare spending changed. It is who experiences the greatest pressure and how that pressure is measured. These results establish an association between household circumstances and reported burden; they do not, on their own, prove the cause of an individual's health or financial situation.