Financial well-being

In keeping with household income, financial well-being also must be captured, as the

two domains cannot be considered synonymous or as exact substitutes. Household

income may not fully capture the difficulty of making ends meet, for example, due to

higher-than-average commitments or indebtedness. These are important aspects to

capture for both within-cohort and cross-cohort analysis, as well as longitudinal

tracking. Similar to household income, the importance of this domain coupled with its

potential to change between waves makes it necessary to repeat at age 3. In the

2024 report of the State of the Nation’s Children, data from the EU SILC survey

indicated that in 2023, 12% of children were at risk of poverty while 4% of children

under 6 were experiencing consistent poverty (DCEDIY, 2024b, p. 141 & 144).

The main sub-topics/measures that could be continued from Cohort 24 at age 9

months are (a) a set of items on material deprivation (see next paragraph); (b) items

on savings and financial strain; and (c) items on income requirements and food

insecurity. The first sub-topic is discussed in further detail in the following paragraph.

EU SILC Material Deprivation measure