With one on four households with young children struggling to meet back to school costs, it will come as no surprise that being a parent is an expensive business. According to a new report however, it's probably more expensive than we ever really imagined.
According to a report in the
Irish Times, Irish parents of two children will spend around half a million euro over 25 years as a direct consequence of their offspring - and that's not including a mortgage deposit or a wedding.
Basing his figures on a UK study from the Centre for Economics and Business Research,which estimates that a typical parent in the UK will spend £231,843 (€271,950) raising a child born in 2016, Conor Pope worked out that Irish parents will need to shell out even more.
Irish parents of two can expect to spend more than €540,000 on raising a family. An to do that they will need to earn more than €1 million during just over two decades.
Pope's figures account for an average €8,000 in hospital fees for two births if you decide to go private, €72,000 in trading up to a bigger home, €90,000 in creche fees before primary school and €2,000 on nappies.
The cost of eight years of 'free' primary and six years of secondary school racks up an additional €34,000 for two children, €27,200 in after school care and €40,000 in college fees.
Santa Clause will set parents back around €19,200, with summer camps adding up to more than €5,000 and annual family holidays totaling more than €27,700.
When all these expenses and a few more are totted up, according to Pope's figures the total cost of raising two children in Ireland comes to €497,100.
Luckily, as most mums and dads will agree, they're worth every cent.
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