Comparing Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) and economic output allows us to measure whether economic growth is becoming less resource intensive. Their ratio indicates the ability of the economy to create wealth with fewer extractions of natural resources, or to create more wealth with the same amount of extractions. This is called ‘decoupling’ whenever we break the link between environment extractions and economic growth.
The DMC figures used to calculate resource productivity in this release are sourced from the CSO, Material Flow Accounts releases.
The Gross Value Added, Gross National Income and Modified Gross National Income figures are sourced from the CSO, Annual National Accounts releases.
Domestic extraction measures flow of raw materials from the environment into the economy. These materials comprise biomass, metallic minerals, non-metallic minerals, and fossil fuels. DMC measures the total amount of material used within a national economy. It is the sum of domestic extraction plus imports less exports.
More information is available in the Material Flow Accounts Background Notes.
This indicator provides the ratio of imports (IMP) over direct material inputs (DMI) in percentage. The term 'material import dependency' shows the extent to which an economy relies upon imports in order to meet its material needs. Material import dependency cannot be negative or higher than 100%. A value equal to 100% would indicate that there are no domestic extractions during the reference year.
For more information on Material Import Dependency visit Eurostat website.
The main aggregates in the Supply and Use and Input-Output Tables for Ireland 2022 are consistent with the data in the Annual National Accounts 2024 (ANA 2024). All releases follow the European System of Accounts methodology (ESA 2010).
The tables display details of the economy in terms of 62 industry groups and 62 product groups. The industry classification used is the two-digit level of the NACE Rev. 2 referred to as the A88 coding of industry activities. The product classification used is the equivalent CPA Rev. 2.1 grouping referred to as the P88. The tables are initially constructed using 88 industry and 88 product groups and are then condensed for confidentiality and quality purposes.
Production of the tables involves extensive use of CSO, Structural Business Statistics data; the Census of Industrial Production (CIP), the Annual Services Inquiry (ASI), the Building and Construction Inquiry (BCI) and Industrial Production by Sector (PRODCOM). Data from National Accounts, International Accounts, External Trade Statistics, Government Accounts and Environment is also used in construction of the tables. As a result, balancing is necessary in the construction of the Supply and Use Tables, to align the National Accounts data with data from other surveys and areas. Allowances must be made for a lack of absolute accuracy in the figures in this release. These are overall estimates and not definitive data.
More information is available in the Supply and Use and Input-Output Tables for Ireland Background Notes.
The Information Society Statistics - Enterprises (ISSE) 2025 results show the extent of digitalisation among Irish businesses. By surveying enterprises about a range of areas including internet access and use, e-commerce, ICT security, and artificial intelligence, the ISSE release gives a broad picture of the ways in which Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is used in business practices. Topics and items covered by the survey can change from year to year to reflect the development and emergence of new technologies and their role in business.
New modules are introduced each year and modules that have not been included may be re-introduced in future years. The 2025 survey included questions on internet access and usage, e-commerce, ICT security, and artificial intelligence.
More information is available in the Information Society Statistics - Enterprises Background Notes.
Environment activities are activities that either directly serve an environmental purpose or produce specifically designed products whose use serve an environmental purpose. Thus, the primary purpose of the activity must be environmental.
Gross Value Added is the output of environmental goods and services at basic prices minus intermediate consumption at purchasers' prices of those goods and services.
Employment is the estimated number of full-time equivalents employed in the supply of environment goods and services for the green economy.
More information is available in the Business in Ireland 2023 - Green Economy Background Notes.
Primary energy includes the raw fuels that are used for transformation processes such as electricity generation and oil refining. The sum of all primary energy is the Total Primary Energy Requirement (TPER).
The Business Energy Use (BEU) survey was first undertaken in 2009. It has been conducted on an annual basis since then. The primary purpose of the survey is to provide estimates of the quantities and costs of energy products purchased by enterprises in the Industry (including Construction) and Services sectors to operate their businesses.
A kilotonne of oil equivalent (ktoe) is a common unit of measurement which enables quantities of different fuels to be compared and aggregated.
More information is available in the Business Energy Use Background Notes.
Energy import dependency shows the share of total energy needs of a country met by imports from other countries. The rate shows the proportion of energy that an economy must import. It is defined as net energy imports divided by gross available energy, expressed as a percentage. It can be defined for all products total as well as for individual fuels (for example: crude oil, natural gas). All data are from energy balances.
For more information on Material Import Dependency visit Eurostat website.
EU law, Council Directive 2009/119/EC imposes an obligation on Member States to maintain minimum emergency stocks of crude oil and petroleum products. Member States are required, at all times, to maintain oil stocks equivalent to at least 90 days of average daily net imports or 61 days of average daily inland consumption, whichever of the two quantities is greater.
Data on the generation and treatment of waste by the non-domestic sector is collected in Ireland through the Waste Generation Survey, on the basis of the Regulation on waste statistics (EC) No. 2150/2002, amended by Commission Regulation (EU) No. 849/2010. The information on waste generation has a breakdown in sources (19 business activities according to the NACE classification and household activities) and in waste categories (according to the European Waste Classification for statistical purposes). The information on waste treatment is broken down to five treatment types (recovery, incineration with energy recovery, other incineration, disposal on land and land treatment) and in waste categories.
Waste generation: all national waste generated.
Waste treatment: all waste treated within the borders of a country (consequently excluding exports and including imports of waste).
Data and information on food waste and food waste prevention are based on the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) that establishes an annual reporting obligation on measurements of the levels of food waste, on the Commission delegated decision (EU) 2019/1597, that defines the common methodology and minimum quality requirements for the uniform measurement of levels of food waste, and finally on the Commission implementing decision (EU) 2019/2000, that provides the reporting format.
Data is collected on the basis of the European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste, as last amended. The reporting details are laid down in Commission Decision 2005/270/EC of 22 March 2005 establishing the formats relating to the database system pursuant to Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste.
'Packaging' in this context means all products made of any materials of any nature to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from raw materials to processed goods, from the producer to the user or the consumer. 'Non-returnable' items used for the same purposes shall also be considered to constitute packaging.
'Packaging waste' means any packaging or packaging material covered by the definition of waste in the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, excluding production residues.
Data on Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is collected on the basis of Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The purpose of the collected data is to monitor compliance of countries with the quantitative targets for collection, preparing for re-use and recycling, and recovery of WEEE that are set out in Article 7 (collection rate) and Article 11 and Annex V (recovery targets).
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and other key concepts for the purpose of monitoring the WEEE management are defined in Article 3 of Directive 2012/19/EU as follows:
Article 3(1)(a): ‘electrical and electronic equipment’ or ‘EEE’ means equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1 000 volts for alternating current and 1 500 volts for direct current.
Article 3(1)(e): ‘waste electrical and electronic equipment’ or ‘WEEE’ means electrical or electronic equipment which is waste within the meaning of Article 3(1) of Directive 2008/98/EC, including all components, sub-assemblies and consumables which are part of the product at the time of discarding.
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