One in four Irish people under the age of 25 can’t afford to go for a drink with family or friends

The figures were revealed in a Eurostat report released on Thursday.

A report by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, has revealed that more than one in four Irish people under the age of 25 can’t afford to go for a drink or a meal with family or friends once a month. According to the report, based on data collected on material deprivation in 2014, 25.6% of people under the age of 25 in Ireland can’t afford to meet family or friends for a drink or a meal, with the overall figure showing that just under in five people (18.4%) in Ireland are unable to afford to do so once a month. Only Hungary (36.5%), Romania (35.7%), Bulgaria (30%), Greece (20.7%) and Malta (18.4%) fared worse than Ireland in the report, which also showed that just under one in eight people in Ireland (12%) are unable to participate in a leisure activity. The ability of Irish people to afford to go for a drink or a meal with family and friends contrasted sharply with countries such as Sweden (where only 1% said they couldn’t afford to do so), Finland (1.5%), Denmark (3.2%), the Netherlands (3.3%), Czech Republic (3.4%) and Luxembourg (4.1%). You can read the report in full here.