Source Publication: Annual National Accounts 2021

Get the data: Eurostat database, PxStat NA018

Ireland’s Real GDP growth rates are shown in Figure 3.1. Ireland experienced increasing GDP growth rates from 2013 to 2015. The substantial jump in GDP in 2015 was mostly due to the relocation of large multinational companies to Ireland, in particular where their net exports are now from their Irish owned enterprises. In 2021, the GDP growth of 13.6% reflected strong continued multinational activity in the country as well as recovery in domestic activity. For further detail on this, please see the Gross Value Added by Activity chapter of the Annual National Accounts,tables 5.1 to 5.3. As a result of its highly globalised economy, Ireland has experienced higher GDP growth than many of its European trading partners in recent years.

Supplementary analysis:

Get the data: Eurostat database

Figure 3.2 compares real GDP growth rates across countries. Ireland’s real GDP growth rate was the highest in the EU in 2021.

^{*Due to individual chain linkages these values do not add up exactly to total GDP growth rates. Values for components are at factor cost. Adding taxes less subsidies provides market costs.}

Source Publication: Annual National Accounts 2021

Get the data: PxStat NA004

Industry was the main driver of GDP growth between 2012 and 2021. Information & communication and other services including public services have had the next largest impact on GDP over the period. The construction sector has had a small impact on GDP growth in recent years. 

Source Publication: International Accounts Q2 2022

Get the data: Eurostat database, PxStat ISA04 (Net Lending/Borrowing), PxStat NA005 (GDP)

Net lending/borrowing of a country corresponds to the sum of the balances of its current and capital accounts, in the balance of payments. It represents the net resources that the total economy makes available to the rest of the world (if it is positive, i.e. net lending) or receives from the rest of the world (if it is negative, i.e. net borrowing).

Figure 3.4 shows net lending/borrowing as a percentage of GDP for Ireland, Germany, Netherlands and Greece. Ireland has had far greater fluctuations in levels of net lending/borrowing than the other countries shown. This is a result of the highly globalised nature of Ireland's economy. In 2015, there was a large increase in the current account balance related to corporate restructuring, both for imports of individual assets and also reclassifications of entire balance sheets, resulting in a higher level of net lending than was previously seen. Ireland experienced increasing levels of net borrowing from 2016 up to 2019, with a net borrowing of 29.7% of GDP in 2019, almost triple the figure of 11% seen in 2018. Ireland's net borrowing figure was €105.9bn in 2019, an increase of €70bn compared to 2018. This was mainly due to increased levels of intellectual property (IP) imports, which measured €116bn in 2019, causing a large negative current account balance of -€70.8bn in that year. In 2020, Ireland's net borrowing figure reduced back down to 10%, a figure more consistent with those seen in the years 2016-2018. In 2021 this switched to a net lending figure of 15.1% mainly due to the absence of large IP imports in that year.

Supplementary analysis:

Source Publication: Institutional Sector Accounts Non-Financial and Financial 2021

Get the data: PxStat ISA04

Figure 3.5 shows the net lending/borrowing indicator for each sector, expressed in billions of euro. NFCs have been the main driver of the net borrowing experienced in 2016-2021, with their borrowing mainly financing large IP imports and other capital expenditure over the period. In 2021 this changed and NFCs had net lending of €43.5bn. Net borrowing of the government sector has fallen steadily from a 2012 figure of €14.9bn, and in 2018 it became a net lender for the first time since the financial crisis. The government sector continued to lend more than it borrowed in 2019, with net lending at €1.6bn, however this trend was reversed in 2020 when the government sector became a net borrower again due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government sector borrowed €19bn in 2020, the largest level of borrowing seen by the sector in nine years. This reduced to a net borrowing of €7bn in 2021. As government net borrowing increased in the two years of the pandemic, household net lending grew. The sector saved more as consumption was sharply reduced, and over the two years 2020-2021 net lending for households was €52.8bn, which was more than the previous ten years combined.

Get the data: PxStat NA024 (Gross Fixed Capital Formation), PxStat NA001 (GNI*)

Residential construction as a percentage of GNI* (modified GNI excluding globalisation effects) was 3.8% in 2021. This was significantly higher than residential construction as a percentage of GDP, which was 2.1%. If GNI* for Ireland is comparable to GDP for other countries which are less significantly affected by globalisation, Ireland’s residential construction remains low relative to many of its main trading partners. For further information on GNI* and its calculation see the Annual National Accounts 2021. 

Get the data: Eurostat database, PxStat NA001 (GNI*)

Ireland had the second lowest share of residential construction as a percentage of GDP in Europe in 2021. If GNI* for Ireland is comparable to GDP for other countries which are less significantly affected by globalisation, Ireland had the 12th lowest share of residential construction in 2021.

Source Publication: Survey on Income and Living Conditions

Get the data: PxStat SIA60, Eurostat database

This indicator corresponds to the sum of persons who are at risk of poverty, severely materially deprived or living in households with very low work intensity. Figure 3.9 shows that in 2021 Ireland’s at risk of poverty or social exclusion rate was high relative to that of the Netherlands, similar to that of Germany and significantly lower than that of Spain and Greece.

Note: The figures above are consistent with those used by Eurostat. They are not directly comparable to our national figures in PXStat because of the use of different deprivation variables, minor differences in household income definitions, and differences in equivalence scales used to calculate equivalised household size.

Source Publication: Survey on Income and Living Conditions

Get the data: PxStat SIA77, Eurostat database

This indicator measures the percentage of the population with an equalised disposable income below 60% of the national median after taking social transfers into consideration. Figure 3.10 compares Ireland's at risk of poverty rate after receiving social transfers to that of some of the country's major trading partners. In 2021, 12.9% of people in Ireland were at risk of poverty after receiving social transfers, down from 13.8% in 2020. Ireland’s rate was lower than that of Spain, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands in 2021.

Note: The figures above are consistent with those used by Eurostat. They are not directly comparable to our national figures in PXStat because of the use of different deprivation variables, minor differences in household income definitions, and differences in equivalence scales used to calculate equivalised household size.

Supplementary analysis:

Get the data: Eurostat database

Ireland had the 8th lowest at risk of poverty after social transfer rate in the EU in 2021. 

Get the data: Eurostat database

Severely materially deprived people have living conditions that are severely constrained by a lack of resources. Compared to some of its major trading partners, Ireland has a higher proportion of severely materially deprived people. In 2021, 5.1% of people in Ireland were severely materially deprived, down from 5.7% in 2020.

Supplementary analysis:

Get the data: Eurostat database

Figure 3.13 shows that Ireland's deprivation rate in 2021 sits mid table amongst its European counterparts, 14th lowest.

Get the data: Eurostat database

This indicator measures people living in households with very low work intensity. These are people aged 0-59 living in households where the adults (aged 18-59) worked less than 20% of their total work potential during the past year (students are excluded).

Ireland generally had a higher rate of people living in households with very low work intensity when compared with some of its major trading partners. In 2021, 13% of people in Ireland were living in a household with very low work intensity, up from 11.5% in 2020.

Get the data: Eurostat database

Figure 3.15 shows that Ireland had the highest rate of people living in very low work intensity households in 2021 when compared to other EU countries.

Get the data: Eurostat database

Real labour productivity is measured as GDP per person employed, including self-employed. This indicator shows the year-on-year percentage change in real labour productivity. A positive annual change in labour productivity was seen for every year except 2013 and 2016. The most notable change was seen in 2015, with a marked level increase in productivity of 20.2%. This can be attributed to the high GDP growth recorded in this year. More information on the high GDP growth observed in 2015 can be found in the Report of the Economic Statistics Review Group. In 2021 the percentage change in labour productivity was 7.1%. Ireland experienced higher levels of growth in labour productivity than many of its European trading partners between 2012 and 2021.

Further information on labour productivity can be found in our Productivity in Ireland publication.

Get the data: Eurostat database (GDP), Eurostat database (Employment), Eurostat database (Labour Productivity)

Figure 3.17 shows the breakdown of real labour productivity growth into its two components - change in people employed and change in constant prices GDP. The significant effect of changes in GDP on labour productivity growth can be clearly seen. This is demonstrated in 2015, when the change in people employed was 3.5% but the 24.4% increase in real GDP resulted in a 20.2% increase in labour productivity. Further information on labour productivity can be found in the CSO publication Productivity in Ireland 2020.

Get the data: Eurostat database

At 7.1%, Ireland had the 5th highest rate of growth in labour productivity in the EU in 2021.

Get the data: Eurostat database (Asset/Liability Presentation), OECD database (Directional Presentation)

Foreign direct investment is a category of cross-border investment made by a resident entity in one economy (the direct investor) with the objective of establishing a lasting interest in an enterprise resident in an economy other than that of the direct investor (the direct investment enterprise). The lasting interest of a direct investor is quantitatively defined as the ownership of 10%, or more, of the voting rights in the direct investment enterprise.

Figure 3.19 shows that flows of direct investment into Ireland increased from 8.3% of GDP in 2020 to 16.5% of GDP in 2021 on an asset/liability basis. However, FDI figures can be calculated in two distinct ways. These two methods are the aforementioned asset/liability basis and the directional basis. Using the directional basis, investments are separated by direction (inward or outward) and reverse flows are netted which reduces the amount of pass through funds present. Taking these reverse flows into account, there was an decrease of direct investment into Ireland in 2021 of approximately 19% of GDP. For further work by the CSO on the netting of reverse investment/pass-through funds from FDI statistics see the Special Purpose Entities and Pass-Through chapter of our annual FDI publication.

For more information on FDI see Foreign Direct Investment 2020.

Supplementary analysis:

Get the data: Eurostat database (Asset/Liability Presentation), PxStat BPA16, OECD database (Directional Presentation)

Figure 3.20 above shows the value of FDI flows in 2021, for selected EU countries, using both methods.

As seen graphically, the asset/liability and directional methods can give two disparate results. In 2021, FDI flows into Ireland were 16.5% of GDP using the asset/liability method, in contrast to -1% of GDP when using the directional method which accounts for reverse investment flows. In 2021, FDI flows into Luxembourg as a percentage of GDP stood at -269.1% when using the asset/liability method. The corresponding figure when using the directional method was -10.4%. Luxembourg could not be shown in the above graph due the magnitude of its asset/liability presentation value, which was by far the greatest among EU member states. 

International statistical manuals recommend interpreting FDI data on a directional basis where items such as intergroup reserve debt are shown on a net basis. For more on the difference between the two methods, see the CSO's note on Two Methods of Measuring Foreign Direct Investment.

Get the data: Eurostat database (Asset/Liability Presentation), OECD database (Directional Presentation), PxStat BPQ26

Figure 3.21 shows Inward FDI stocks as a percentage of GDP. This statistic measures total investment in Ireland by foreign investors using the two methods explained previously. In 2021, FDI stocks in Ireland were 288.9% of GDP using the directional method, a decrease of 13.8% of GDP compared to 2020 values. Using the asset/liability method, FDI stocks decreased by 12.1% of GDP in 2021, to 418.6% of GDP. 

Supplementary analysis:

Get the data: Eurostat database (Asset/Liability Presentation), OECD database (Directional Presentation)

As seen in Figure 3.22, the figures for Ireland and the Netherlands exceed those of many other European countries. This highlights the role of both countries as European financial centres. Luxembourg reported inward FDI stocks of 5,498% of GDP in 2021 using the asset/liability method, by far the highest value reported by any EU country. Using the directional method, FDI stocks in Luxembourg stood at 1,205% of GDP. This constituted the highest value in Europe using this method, with Ireland reporting the next highest value. Luxembourg could not be shown in the above graph due to the magnitude of its asset/liability presentation value. 

Source publication: Institutional Sector Accounts Non-Financial and Financial 2021

Get the data: PxStat IFI03

Figure 3.23 shows the debt-to-equity ratio, which is the relative proportion of debt to shareholders' equity used to finance assets. It is defined for balance sheet liabilities as the ratio of the sum of currency and deposits, debt securities, loans, and financial derivatives and employee stock options to equity and investment fund shares. It is closely related to Headline Indicator 11 - Change in Total Financial Sector Liabilities.

Since 2012, there has been a reduction in the financial sector debt-to-equity ratio, mainly driven by the growth of the investment funds sector and the deleveraging of the banking sector. Since 2013, the structure of the balance sheet of the financial sector has evolved such that the leverage ratio has fallen below 100% resulting from more equity than debt in the sector. In 2021 the financial sector debt-to-equity ratio was 54.3%, a slight reduction of 0.9% on its 2020 level of 55.2%.

Supplementary analysis:

Source publication: Institutional Sector Accounts Non-Financial and Financial 2021

Get the data: PxStat IFI03

Figure 3.24 shows the breakdown of financial sector leverage into its components - debt and equity. The value of debt dropped from 2012 to 2013, and has been fluctuating until 2017. From 2018 it steadily increases, and stands at €2.5 trillion in 2021. The value of equity has increased consistently since 2012 and stands at €4.5 trillion in 2021.

Get the data: Eurostat database

Figure 3.25 shows the net international investment position excluding non-defaultable instruments (NENDI) indicator and the building blocks which can be used to calculate this. The NENDI indicator is a subset of the net international investment position (IIP) which excludes equity-related components, namely FDI equity and equity shares, and intracompany cross-border FDI debt. The indicator is based on annual figures from the CSO balance of payments data and is defined as the IIP minus net foreign direct investment minus net portfolio equity. The value of NENDI in 2021 was -335.1% of GDP.

Source publication: 

Get the data: PxStat NA005 (GDP), PxStat IFI05 (Household Debt)

Household debt has decreased every year since 2012 and stood at 29.7% of GDP in 2021, a decrease of 4.7 percentage points from the 2020 value. Notably, the 2021 value for household debt as a percentage of GDP is almost one third of the level seen in 2012. This emphasises both the very substantial rise in GDP and the significant deleveraging experienced by households, as they experienced net saving over the period. Household debt fell from €172.5bn in 2012 to €126.6bn in 2021, while GDP more than doubled over the same period.