Quality of Life as a Tangible Asset: Ireland’s Superior Health and Education Outcomes
For discerning individuals and families considering an international move, the decision process transcends balance sheets and property yields. It is fundamentally an investment in a new way of life—a search for a secure, enriching environment where your family can thrive. While financial metrics are important, the true value of a location is often found in its quality of life.
A recent, authoritative report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) allows for a direct, data-driven comparison of the well-being and opportunities available in Ireland. The findings are clear: an investment in Ireland is an investment in your family's future, underpinned by superior outcomes in education and healthcare.
A Commitment to Education: Investing in the Next Generation
For families, access to high-quality education is non-negotiable. The ESRI report highlights that Ireland's system excels at engaging and retaining students from their earliest years through to higher education.
A Stronger Start: Ireland demonstrates a robust commitment to early years education, with enrolment rates for 3-5 year olds that are significantly higher than those in neighbouring Northern Ireland. In 2022, Ireland's enrolment rate was 93.2%.
Keeping Teenagers Engaged: The data for 15-19 year olds reveals a substantial advantage for Ireland. In 2022, 93.9% of this cohort in Ireland were enrolled in education, a figure the report notes is 21 percentage points ahead of Northern Ireland's 70.6%.
Preventing Early Leaving: Perhaps most powerfully, Ireland has been remarkably successful at reducing early school leaving. Between 2018 and 2022, the rate in Ireland fell from 5% to just 2.7%, while it simultaneously increased in NI from 9.4% to 10%.
These figures paint a picture of an educational culture that successfully supports and develops its young people, offering a significant advantage to families moving here.
A Healthier Future: Access to World-Class Healthcare
For retirees and families alike, confidence in healthcare is paramount. The ESRI’s findings show a system in Ireland that is providing superior and more timely access to care, a conclusion reflected in the ultimate measure of a nation's health: life expectancy.
Shorter Waits for Treatment: Access to care is critical. While waiting lists are a challenge across many countries, the data for 2024 shows that patients in Ireland face significantly shorter waits for the longest-duration procedures. There were just 12 persons per 1,000 population on waiting lists for more than 18 months in Ireland, compared to a figure of 86 per 1,000 in NI.
The Ultimate Indicator—A Longer Life: The cumulative effect of a nation’s living standards and services is reflected in life expectancy. In 2021, life expectancy for a child born in Ireland was 82.4 years—a full two years longer than in Northern Ireland (80.4 years) and also ahead of the UK average (80.7 years).
The ESRI report explicitly links this growing divergence in life expectancy to Ireland's superior performance in living standards, education, and healthcare access.
The Verdict: A Tangible Return on Well-being
These are not just abstract statistics; they are measures of a functioning, healthy, and forward-looking society. They represent tangible assets: the security of knowing your children are in a supportive educational system and the peace of mind that comes from living in a country with accessible, high-quality healthcare.
An investment in Ireland is more than a financial transaction. It is a strategic decision to secure a superior quality of life, backed by clear and compelling evidence.