Average salary for 25-year-old revealed as vast majority worry about housing, CSO study finds

The Growing Up in Ireland survey found the average 25-year-old was earning just over €29,000-a-year in a country where the average house price is now €346,048.

The survey found there was already a pay gap emerging between young women and men. The median work income in 2022 for 25-year-old men was €64-a-week higher than for women of the same age.

Men aged 25 were earning €589-a-week or €30,608-a-year. While 25-year-old women earned €525-a-week or €27,300-a-year. Just over a third of respondents (34.2 pc) said they had difficulties making ends meet.

In total, 77.3pc were concerned about gender inequality. But women were more concerned about this - 88.4pc women - compared with 65.9pc of men.

Almost a quarter (24.5pc) of women had skipped meals due to financial hardship, only 14.5pc of men had skipped meals.

Nearly one-third (31.5pc) of women aged 25 had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety.

The study also found that some 51.2pc of men with a degree-level education had drunk alcohol to a level the World Health Organisation (WHO) categorises hazardous or dangerous.

The majority - 97.7pc - were concerned about housing in Ireland and 94.2pc said they were concerned about poverty.

Of those living at home, six in 10 (62.4pc) did so for mainly financial reasons. Around one in eight of those who lived at home, found it difficult to, or they were incapable of, making ends meet, compared with 17pc of those who lived outside the parental home.

Only 7.5pc of respondents were living outside their parental home and outside the region where they were based at nine-years-old. One in eight (12.7) of the respondents born in 1998, had emigrated.

Most young people are well educated. Nearly four in five or 79pc of respondents in the highest 20pc of income, had a degree or equivalent.

Those with a degree or higher qualification had a median weekly income of €128 more than those without such a qualification - €613 compared with €487.

This difference was even greater for women compared with men. For example, women without a degree or higher qualification earned €154-a-week less than women with such a qualification. While men without a higher qualification earned €79-a-week less than men without one.

Nearly three quarters of respondents (73pc) reported saving regularly while over two in five (44.3pc) had contributed to a pension.

Just over two-thirds held their primary job for at least 24 weeks in 2022, while just over one-third held that job for at least 50 weeks.

And over one in 10 (10.7pc) provided care for a family member on a regular basis. Men aged 25 reported participating in group and individual sports at a higher rate than women.

Nearly two-thirds (65.6pc) said they had experience of being discriminated against a few times a year. Climate change was a concern for 85.1pc.

A majority of 25-year-olds (58.5pc) were in romantic relationships. And almost one in five (19.9pc) had no interest in politics.