ALMOST 20% OF Irish people cannot afford to meet friends or family for a drink or meal at least once a month.

Europe-wide research has found 13% of people aged 16 and over living in the EU in 2014 reported not being able to get together with family and friends for socialising at least once a month because of a lack of money.

The figure for Ireland was 18.4% and the Eurostat research revealed more than one quarter of Irish people aged between 16 and 25 cannot afford a regular drink or meal with friends.

Source: Eurostat

In other EU countries the situation is more extreme, with around one third of Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria’s populations saying they could not afford it. The elderly in Romania are particularly affected: in the age group over 65, the share there reaches 43%.

By comparison, just 8.4% of Irish people aged 65 and over could not get together with friends and family for a drink or food because of their financial situation.

The Eurostat report also shows 12% of Irish people in 2014 could not afford to take part in a leisure activity.

Source: Eurostat

The figure was highest (12.8%) for those aged 16-25 years. More than half of the Romanian population could not afford to regularly participate in a leisure activity in 2014.

In contrast, less than 5% of the populations in Finland, Luxembourg and Sweden were in this situation.