Economy of the Republic of Ireland

Economy of Ireland
The International Financial Services Centre in Dublin
CurrencyEuro (EUR, €)
Calendar year
Trade organisations
EU, WTO and OECD
Country group
Statistics
PopulationIncrease 5,149,139 (2022 census)[3]
GDP
GDP rank
GDP growth
  • Decrease -5.5% (2023)[4]
  • Decrease -0.2% (2024f)[4]
  • Increase 2.3% (2025f)[4]
GDP per capita
  • Increase $103,500 (nominal; 2024)[4]
  • Increase $127,750 (PPP; 2024)[4]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
  • 8.1% (2022)[4]
  • 5.2% (2023)[4]
  • 1.7% (2024f)[4]
Population below poverty line
  • Positive decrease 6.7% (consistent poverty in 2017) Poverty line in 2022: €13,400/year[6][7]
  • Positive decrease 19.2% at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE, 2023)[8]
Negative increase 27.4 low (2023, Eurostat)[9]
Steady 77 out of 100 points (2023)[11](11th)
Labour force
  • Increase 2,690,000 (2023)[12]
  • Increase 77.5% employment rate (2023)[13]
Labour force by occupation
Unemployment
  • Negative increase 4.2% (October 2024)[14]
  • Negative increase 10.6% youth unemployment (October 2024)[15]
Average gross salary
€4,002 monthly (2023-Q1)
€3,086 monthly (2023-Q1)
Main industries
External
Exports
  • Increase Goods - €208.208 billion (2022)[16]
  • Increase Services - €337.282 billion (2022)[17]
Export goods
  • Chemicals and related products 64.24%
  • Machinery and transport equipment 13.17%
  • Miscellaneous manufactured articles 10.18%
  • Food and live animals 7.11%
  • Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material 1.57%
  • Crude materials, inedible, except fuels 1.05%
  • Beverages and tobacco 0.98%
  • Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials 0.86%
  • Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes 0.07%
  • (2022)[16]
Main export partners
Imports
  • Negative increase Goods - €140.199 billion (2022)[16]
  • Negative increase Services - €354.051 billion (2022)[17]
Import goods
  • Machinery and transport equipment 35.76%
  • Chemicals and related products 27.38%
  • Miscellaneous manufactured articles 10.53%
  • Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials 9.36%
  • Food and live animals 6.67%
  • Manufactured goods classified chiefly by material 6.4%
  • Beverages and tobacco 0.83%
  • Crude materials, inedible, except fuels 0.81%
  • Animal and vegetable oils, fats and waxes 0.41%
  • (2022)[16]
Main import partners
FDI stock
  • Increase €1.32 trillion (Q4 2022)[18]
  • Increase Abroad: €1.11 trillion (Q4 2022)[18]
Decrease $17 billion (2022 est.)[19]
Negative increase €2.954 trillion (June 2022)[20]
Decrease −€610 billion (July 2022)[19]
Public finances
  • Positive decrease 44.7% of GDP (2022)[21]
  • Positive decrease €224.8 billion (2022)[21]
  • €8.0 billion surplus (2022)[21]
  • +1.6% of GDP (2022)[21]
Revenues
  • Increase €115.506 billion[21]
  • 22.98% of GDP (2022)[21]
Expenses
  • Negative increase€107.473 billion[21]
  • 21.38% of GDP (2022)[21]
Economic aid
Decrease $12.905 billion (2023 est.)[5]
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of the Republic of Ireland is a highly developed knowledge economy, focused on services in high-tech, life sciences, financial services and agribusiness, including agrifood. Ireland is an open economy (3rd on the Index of Economic Freedom),[27] and ranks first for high-value foreign direct investment (FDI) flows.[28] In the global GDP per capita tables, Ireland ranks 2nd of 192 in the IMF table and 4th of 187 in the World Bank ranking.[29][30]

Social expenditure stood at roughly 13.4% of GDP in 2024.[31][32][33] Following a period of continuous growth at an annual level from 1984 to 2007,[34] the post-2008 Irish financial crisis severely affected the economy, compounding domestic economic problems related to the collapse of the Irish property bubble. Ireland first experienced a short technical recession from Q2-Q3 2007, followed by a recession from Q1 2008 – Q4 2009.[35]

After a year with stagnant economic activity in 2010, the Irish real GDP rose by 2.2% in 2011 and 0.2% in 2012. This growth was mainly driven by improvements in the export sector. The European sovereign-debt crisis caused a new Irish recession to start in Q3 2012, which was still ongoing as of Q2 2013.[36] By mid-2013, the European Commission's economic forecast for Ireland predicted its growth rates would return to a positive 1.1% in 2013 and 2.2% in 2014.[37] An inflated 2015 GDP growth of 26.3% (GNP growth of 18.7%) was officially partially ascribed to tax inversion practices by multinationals switching domiciles.[38] This growth in GDP, dubbed "leprechaun economics" by American economist Paul Krugman, was shown to be driven by Apple Inc.'s restructuring of its Irish subsidiary in January 2015. The distortion of Ireland's economic statistics (including GNI, GNP and GDP) by the tax practices of some multinationals, led the Central Bank of Ireland to propose an alternative measure (modified GNI or GNI*)[39] to more accurately reflect the true state of the economy from that year onwards.[40][41]

Foreign-owned multinationals continue to contribute significantly to Ireland's economy, making up 14 of the top 20 Irish firms (by turnover),[42] employing 23% of the private sector labour-force,[43] and paying 80% of the collected corporation tax.[44][45]

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  6. ^ Compare your income - Perception of income inequality in OECD countries
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  8. ^ "Persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  9. ^ "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income by age". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  10. ^ a b "Human Development Index (HDI)". hdr.undp.org. HDRO (Human Development Report Office) United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  11. ^ "Corruption Perceptions Index". Transparency International. 30 January 2024. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
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  13. ^ "Employment and activity by sex and age - annual data". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  14. ^ "Unemployment by sex and age - monthly data". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. 8 November 2024. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
  15. ^ "Unemployment by sex and age - monthly data". ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Eurostat. 8 November 2024. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
  16. ^ a b c d e f "Goods Exports and Imports December 2022 - CSO - Central Statistics Office". Cso.ie. 15 February 2023. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
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  18. ^ a b "International Accounts Q4 2022". cso.ie. 3 March 2023. Archived from the original on 25 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  19. ^ a b "International Accounts Q1 2022 Final - CSO - Central Statistics Office". 15 July 2022.
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  22. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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  30. ^ "PPP (current international $)". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  31. ^ Kenworthy, Lane (1999). "Do Social-Welfare Policies Reduce Poverty? A Cross-National Assessment" (PDF). Social Forces. 77 (3): 1119–1139. doi:10.2307/3005973. JSTOR 3005973. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2013.
  32. ^ Moller, Stephanie; Huber, Evelyne; Stephens, John D.; Bradley, David; Nielsen, François (2003). "Determinants of Relative Poverty in Advanced Capitalist Democracies". American Sociological Review. 68 (1): 22–51. doi:10.2307/3088901. JSTOR 3088901.
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