The reality of life for 25 year-olds in Ireland is laid bare in the latest update from the Growing Up in Ireland survey.
Every five years since they were nine years old the same group of children, now young adults, have been asked by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) about their personal circumstances and the picture that emerges as they hit a quarter century is a mixed one.
The majority – more than 60 per cent – have a university degree or equivalent, making them among the most educated generation in the State’s history. Eight in 10 have full-time jobs and most work in well-paid skilled roles in areas such as professional services, science and technology, industry, health and education.
From this perspective they are the living embodiment of the extraordinary transformation of the Irish economy over the course of their young lives.
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But if they are the beneficiaries of decades of economic growth they are also among those most affected by its downside in terms of the chronic housing shortage. Seven out of 10 are living at home and 40 per cent say this is primarily out of economic necessity.
Housing is their number one concern and almost all of them – 97.7 per cent – say they are concerned about it. And well they might be. The expectation that they will own their own home, as expressed by four out of five respondents, looks decidedly optimistic at this point.
The negative consequences of not being able to move out of home are indirectly reflected in the survey. Those respondents who have been able to move out report higher levels of life satisfaction, particularly amongst young men.
The impact of housing, or the lack of it, may be the stand-out finding from the survey, but it is obviously not the only issue weighing on 25 year-olds. The research reflects a worrying decline in mental health among this age group, which contributed to one in five saying they have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety, rising to almost a third amongst women.
This is a significant increase on the numbers that reported depression and anxiety when the cohort was last interviewed in 2020. The proportion reporting above normal stress levels has also risen from 25 per cent to 30 per cent.
It is not surprising in this context that one in four engage in hazardous drinking, one in five have tried cocaine at least once in the previous year and 45 per cent gamble online.
Less than a quarter are strongly optimistic about their futures.
The incoming Government should not need any further incentive to address the housing shortage. The Growing Up in Ireland survey highlights the corrosive effect it is having on the generation now moving into adulthood.
