Statistics on Household Savings

The Central Bank of Ireland’s most recent stats of household savings for February 2024 were neutral, having only increased by 0.7% from January. Reflecting on previous years statistics can provide a better insight into the extent of household savings in Ireland. Since 2019, savings have risen to 47%. This echoes the public’s continued desire to save since the financial crash of 2008. The public has remained cautious with their money since the crash with household savings having increased 85% from 2008. Annual household savings have begun to stabilise in recent years. The increase in savings from February 2021 to 2022 was 7.2%, dropping to an increase of 5% from February 2022 to 2023. In the last year it increased by only 3.3%, reaching €153.6bn.

This is interesting from a consumer spend perspective. Whenever Irish consumers are eventually comfortable with the level of their savings, now an average of over €30,000 per person, will the surplus cash that they have been squirreling away find its way into the tills of Irish retailers?