Economy Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 - Central Statistics Office

Ireland: Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Income and Modified Gross National Income

Table 2.1 Ireland: Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Income and Modified Gross National Income, 2010-2020^1,2
Year	€ billion			%		€
Year	Gross Domestic Product (GDP)	Gross National Income (GNI)	Modified Gross National Income (GNI*)	GNI as a % of GDP	GNI* as a % of GDP	GNI* at current prices per capita
2010	167.4	140.2	128.6	83.8	76.8	28,232
2011	171.7	139.4	127.2	81.2	74.1	27,804
2012	175.5	141.6	126.9	80.7	72.3	27,622
2013	179.4	151.3	136.7	84.3	76.2	29,623
2014	194.9	164.6	148.8	84.5	76.3	32,041
2015	262.8	202.0	162.6	76.9	61.9	34,687
2016	270.1	220.0	174.8	81.5	64.7	36,876
2017	296.9	235.7	185.1	79.4	62.3	38,628
2018	326.0	252.5	197.8	77.5	60.7	40,729
2019	356.5	276.7	215.6	77.6	60.5	43,799
2020	372.9	283.7	208.2	76.1	55.8	41,825
Source: CSO, National Income and Expenditure Annual Results
¹Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Income (GNI) and Modified Gross National Income (GNI*) calculated at current market prices.
²GNI* is designed to exclude the globalisation effects that are disproportionally affecting the size of the Irish economy, see Appendix 1.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.1 (XLS 10KB)

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current market prices increased from €167.4 bn in 2010 to €372.9 bn in 2020.

Gross National Income (GNI) also increased between 2010 and 2020, from €140.2 bn to €283.7 bn. However, as a percent of GDP, GNI has decreased, from 83.8% in 2010 to 76.1% in 2020.

Modified Gross National Income (GNI*) is an indicator that is designed to exclude globalisation effects that have a disproportionate impact on the measurement of the size of the Irish economy, see Appendix 1 for further details.

Modified GNI (GNI*) at current prices fell from €128.6 bn in 2010 to €126.9 bn in 2012, before increasing over the next seven years to €215.6 bn by 2019, then falling to €208.2 bn in 2020.

Year	GNI* at current prices per capita
2010	28232
2011	27804
2012	27622
2013	29623
2014	32041
2015	34687
2016	36876
2017	38628
2018	40729
2019	43799
2020	41825

By country: GDP and GNI at current market prices

Table 2.2 By country: GDP and GNI at current market prices, 2020^1,2
	€million	€million	%
Country	Gross Domestic Product (GDP)	Gross National Income (GNI)	GNI as % of GDP
EU27	13,394,141	13,389,082	100.0
Eurozone 19	11,400,271	11,410,813	100.1
Germany	3,367,560	3,461,285	102.8
France	2,302,860	2,339,190	101.6
Italy	1,653,577	1,673,895	101.2
Spain	1,121,948	1,128,541	100.6
Netherlands	800,095	786,181	98.3
Poland	523,668	504,679	96.4
Sweden	475,432	492,337	103.6
Belgium	456,893	461,729	101.1
Austria	379,321	378,894	99.9
Ireland	372,869	283,735	76.1
Denmark	312,517	323,067	103.4
Finland	236,032	240,068	101.7
Romania	218,863	:	:
Czech Republic	215,248	208,283	96.8
Portugal	200,088	196,928	98.4
Greece	165,326	164,621	99.6
Hungary	136,622	132,950	97.3
Slovakia	92,079	91,047	98.9
Luxembourg	64,221	45,355	70.6
Bulgaria	61,331	:	:
Croatia	50,190	51,238	102.1
Lithuania	49,507	48,076	97.1
Slovenia	46,918	46,563	99.2
Latvia	29,511	29,504	100.0
Estonia	26,835	26,587	99.1
Cyprus	21,548	20,267	94.1
Malta	13,083	11,893	90.9

United Kingdom	2,152,646	2,124,078	98.7

Switzerland	659,731	636,085	96.4
Turkey	626,576	:	:
Norway	318,051	332,540	104.6
Iceland	19,025	:	:
Source: Eurostat Annual National Accounts, CSO NIEAR
¹Sorted by GDP, descending.
²United Kingdom data provided by the Office for National Statistics.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.2 (XLS 16KB)

Ten countries in the EU27 had a GNI greater than or equal to their GDP in 2020, including Sweden (103.6%), Denmark (103.4%), Germany (102.8%), Croatia (102.1%), Finland (101.7%), France (101.6%), Italy (101.2%), Belgium (101.1%), Spain (100.6%) and Latvia (100.0%).
Ireland had the eleventh highest Gross National Income (GNI) in the EU27 in 2020 at €283.7 bn, and the tenth highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of €372.9 bn.
Four countries in the EU27 had a GDP and GNI of greater than one trillion euros – Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
In the EU27, Germany had both the highest GDP and GNI in 2020 at €3.4 tn and €3.5 tn respectively. Malta had the lowest GDP and GNI in the EU27, at €13.1 bn and €11.9 bn respectively.
Ireland had the second lowest ratio of GNI to GDP at 76.1%, among the listed countries that data was available for in 2020, after Luxembourg (70.6%). This can be attributed to the importance of foreign direct investment into the Irish economy.

Country	GDP
Germany	3367560
France	2302860
Italy	1653577
Spain	1121948
Netherlands	800095
Poland	523668
Sweden	475432
Belgium	456893
Austria	379321
Ireland	372869
Denmark	312517
Finland	236032
Romania	218863
Czech Republic	215248
Portugal	200088
Greece	165326
Hungary	136622
Slovakia	92079
Luxembourg	64221
Bulgaria	61331
Croatia	50190
Lithuania	49507
Slovenia	46918
Latvia	29511
Estonia	26835
Cyprus	21548
Malta	13083
United Kingdom	2152646
Switzerland	659731
Turkey	626576
Norway	318051
Iceland	19025

By country: GDP growth rates

Table 2.3 By country: GDP growth rates, 2016-2020¹
% change on previous year
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Ireland % GDP	2.0	8.9	9.0	4.9	5.9
Ireland % GNI	7.4	5.9	6.2	5.0	3.4
Lithuania	2.5	4.3	4.0	4.6	-0.1
Luxembourg	5.0	1.3	2.0	3.3	-1.8
Denmark	3.2	2.8	2.0	2.1	-2.1
Poland	3.1	4.8	5.4	4.7	-2.5
Finland	2.8	3.2	1.1	1.2	-2.8
Sweden	2.1	2.6	2.0	2.0	-2.9
Estonia	3.2	5.8	4.1	4.1	-3.0
Latvia	2.4	3.3	4.0	2.5	-3.6
Romania	4.7	7.3	4.5	4.2	-3.7
Netherlands	2.2	2.9	2.4	2.0	-3.8
Slovenia	3.2	4.8	4.4	3.3	-4.2
Bulgaria	3.0	2.8	2.7	4.0	-4.4
Slovakia	1.9	3.0	3.8	2.6	-4.4
Germany	2.2	2.7	1.1	1.1	-4.6
Hungary	2.2	4.3	5.4	4.6	-4.7
Cyprus	6.5	5.9	5.7	5.3	-5.2
Belgium	1.3	1.6	1.8	2.1	-5.7
Czech Republic	2.5	5.2	3.2	3.0	-5.8
EU27	2.0	2.8	2.1	1.8	-5.9
Eurozone 19	1.9	2.6	1.8	1.6	-6.4
Austria	2.0	2.3	2.5	1.5	-6.7
France	1.1	2.3	1.9	1.8	-7.9
Croatia	3.5	3.4	2.9	3.5	-8.1
Malta	3.1	11.5	6.1	5.9	-8.2
Portugal	2.0	3.5	2.8	2.7	-8.4
Italy	1.3	1.7	0.9	0.4	-8.9
Greece	-0.5	1.1	1.7	1.8	-9.0
Spain	3.0	3.0	2.3	2.1	-10.8

United Kingdom	1.7	1.7	1.3	1.4	-4.6

EFTA Countries:
Norway	1.1	2.3	1.1	0.7	-0.7
Switzerland	2.0	1.6	2.9	1.2	-2.4
Iceland	6.3	4.2	4.9	2.4	-6.5

EU Candidate Countries:
Turkey	3.3	7.5	3.0	0.9	1.8
Serbia	3.3	2.1	4.5	4.3	-0.9
Macedonia	2.8	1.1	2.9	3.2	-4.5
Montenegro	2.9	4.7	5.1	4.1	-15.3
		Source: Eurostat Annual National Accounts, CSO NIEAR
¹Sorted by 2020, descending.
²United Kingdom data provided by the Office for National Statistics.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.3 (XLS 11KB)

In 2010, Ireland had a GDP growth rate of 1.8%. It then dipped to -0.1% in 2012 before returning to a positive growth rate in 2013 of 1.3%.

The growth rate increased to 25.2% in 2015. The dramatic increase in the growth rate in 2015 can be attributed to the globalisation activities of a small number of companies.

In 2016, Ireland's annual GDP growth rate decreased to 2.0% before increasing to 8.9% and 9.0% in 2017 and 2018 respectively. By 2019 the annual GDP growth rate was 4.9%.

In 2020, Ireland had the highest annual GDP growth rate in the EU27 at 5.9% and was the only country in the EU27 to have a positive GDP growth rate.

The average GDP growth rate for the EU27 was negative in 2020 at -5.9% and there were eight countries below the EU27 average, including Spain (-10.8%), Greece (-9.0%), Italy (-8.9%), Portugal (-8.4%), Malta (-8.2%), Croatia (-8.1%), France (-7.9%) and Austria (-6.7%).

Country	GDP Growth Rate
Ireland % GDP	5.9
Ireland % GNI	3.4
Lithuania	-0.1
Luxembourg	-1.8
Denmark	-2.1
Poland	-2.5
Finland	-2.8
Sweden	-2.9
Estonia	-3
Latvia	-3.6
Romania	-3.7
Netherlands	-3.8
Slovenia	-4.2
Bulgaria	-4.4
Slovakia	-4.4
Germany	-4.6
Hungary	-4.7
Cyprus	-5.2
Belgium	-5.7
Czech Republic	-5.8
EU 27	-5.9
Eurozone 19	-6.4
Austria	-6.7
France	-7.9
Croatia	-8.1
Malta	-8.2
Portugal	-8.4
Italy	-8.9
Greece	-9
Spain	-10.8
United Kindgom	-4.6
Norway	-0.7
Switzerland	-2.4
Iceland	-6.5
Turkey	1.8
Serbia	-0.9
Macedonia	-4.5
Montenegro	-15.3

Year	EU27	Ireland
2010	2.2	1.8
2011	1.8	1.1
2012	-0.7	-0.1
2013	0	1.3
2014	1.6	8.7
2015	2.3	25.2
2016	2	2
2017	2.8	8.9
2018	2.1	9
2019	1.8	4.9
2020	-5.9	5.9

By country: GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Standards

Table 2.4 By country: GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Standards, 2016-2020¹
EU27 = 100
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Luxembourg	278	269	262	254	263
Ireland	176	182	190	190	209
Denmark	128	130	129	127	135
Netherlands	129	129	129	128	132
Austria	130	127	128	126	124
Germany	125	124	124	121	123
Sweden	124	122	120	119	123
Belgium	120	118	118	118	119
Ireland GNI*	114	113	115	115	117
Finland	111	111	111	109	113
France	106	104	104	106	104
EU27	100	100	100	100	100
Malta	97	102	102	103	97
Italy	99	98	97	96	94
Czech Republic	89	91	92	93	93
Slovenia	84	86	87	88	89
Cyprus	88	90	91	92	88
Lithuania	76	79	81	84	87
Estonia	77	79	81	82	84
Spain	92	93	91	91	84
Poland	69	70	71	73	76
Portugal	78	77	78	79	76
Hungary	69	69	71	73	74
Romania	60	64	66	69	72
Latvia	66	67	69	69	70
Slovakia	73	70	70	69	70
Croatia	62	64	65	66	64
Greece	68	67	66	66	62
Bulgaria	49	50	52	53	55

United Kingdom	109	107	107	107	104

EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	168	162	160	157	160
Norway	145	150	156	145	140
Iceland	132	130	128	127	120

EU Candidate Countries:
Turkey	66	66	63	59	62
Montenegro	45	46	48	50	45
Serbia	39	39	40	41	43
Macedonia	37	37	38	38	38
Albania	30	30	30	30	30
Source: Eurostat Annual National Accounts, CSO NIEAR
¹Sorted by 2020, descending.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.4 (XLS 10KB)

Ireland had the second highest GDP per capita in PPS in 2020, at 209, 109% higher than the EU27 average.

GDP per capita in PPS in Ireland increased from 131 in 2010 to 138 in 2014. In 2015, GDP per capita increased sharply to 181 in Ireland. This increase can be attributed to the unprecedented growth in GDP the same year, resulting from the globalisation activities of a small number of companies.
In 2016, GDP per capita in PPS in Ireland fell to 176 before increasing to 190 in both 2018 and 2019.

Luxembourg had the highest GDP per capita in PPS in the EU27 in 2020 at 263, while Bulgaria had the lowest GDP per capita at 55.
GNI* in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) in Ireland was 114 in 2016, decreasing to 113 in 2017 before increasing to 117 in 2020.

More than half (seventeen) of countries had a GDP per capita in PPS below the EU27 average. These included the thirteen countries that joined the EU27 in 2004 or after, in addition to Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece.

Year	Ireland	EU27
2010	131	100
2011	131	100
2012	133	100
2013	133	100
2014	138	100
2015	181	100
2016	176	100
2017	182	100
2018	190	100
2019	190	100
2020	209	100

By country: General government consolidated gross debt

Table 2.5 By country: General government consolidated gross debt, 2016-2020^1,2
Percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Greece	180.5	179.5	186.4	180.7	206.3
Italy	134.8	134.2	134.4	134.3	155.6
Portugal	131.5	126.1	121.5	116.6	135.2
Spain	99.2	98.6	97.5	95.5	120.0
Cyprus	103.1	92.9	98.4	91.1	115.3
France	98.0	98.1	97.8	97.5	115.0
Belgium	105.0	102.0	99.9	97.7	112.8
Ireland % GNI*	114.8	108.7	104.1	94.6	104.7
Eurozone 19	90.0	87.5	85.5	83.6	97.3
EU27	83.9	81.3	79.3	77.2	90.1
Croatia	79.8	76.7	73.3	71.1	87.3
Austria	82.8	78.5	74.0	70.6	83.2
Hungary	74.8	72.1	69.1	65.5	80.1
Slovenia	78.5	74.2	70.3	65.6	79.8
Finland	63.2	61.2	59.8	59.5	69.5
Germany	69.0	64.7	61.3	58.9	68.7
Slovakia	52.4	51.6	49.6	48.1	59.7
Ireland % GDP	74.3	67.8	63.1	57.2	58.4
Poland	54.2	50.6	48.8	45.6	57.4
Netherlands	61.9	56.9	52.4	48.5	54.3
Malta	54.6	47.7	43.6	40.7	53.4
Romania	37.3	35.1	34.7	35.3	47.4
Lithuania	39.7	39.1	33.7	35.9	46.6
Latvia	40.4	39.0	37.1	36.7	43.2
Denmark	37.2	35.9	34.0	33.6	42.1
Sweden	42.3	40.7	38.9	34.9	39.7
Czech Republic	36.6	34.2	32.1	30.0	37.7
Luxembourg	19.6	21.8	20.8	22.3	24.8
Bulgaria	29.1	25.1	22.1	20.0	24.7
Estonia	10.0	9.1	8.2	8.6	19.0

United Kingdom	85.8	85.2	84.5	83.8	102.3
Source: Eurostat Government Statistics, CSO Government Finance Statistics
¹Sorted by 2020, descending.
²United Kingdom data provided by the Office for National Statistics.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.5 (XLS 17KB)

From 2010 to 2013, Ireland’s general government consolidated gross debt as a percentage of GDP increased from 86.2% to 120.0%. In 2014, the debt to GDP ratio dropped to 104.3% and continued to decline over the subsequent years to 57.2% in 2019 before rising to 58.4% in 2020.

In 2020, Ireland had the fifteenth highest general government consolidated gross debt as a percentage of GDP in the EU27, at 58.4%. As a percentage of GNI*, Ireland's general government consolidated gross debt was 104.7%.

Current figures show that Ireland’s general government consolidated gross debt of 58.4% falls more than thirty percentage points below the EU27 average of 90.1%.

The highest debt to GDP ratio in the EU27 in 2020 was in Greece at 206.3%, while the lowest was in Estonia at 19.0%.

Year	% of GDP	% of GNI*
2010	86.2	112.2
2011	110.5	149.2
2012	119.7	165.5
2013	120	157.5
2014	104.3	136.6
2015	76.7	124
2016	74.3	114.8
2017	67.8	108.7
2018	63.1	104.1
2019	57.2	94.6
2020	58.4	104.7

By country: Public balance

Table 2.6 By country: Public balance, 2016-2020^1,2
Percentage of GDP
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Denmark	0.1	1.8	0.8	4.1	-0.2
Sweden	1.0	1.4	0.8	0.6	-2.8
Luxembourg	1.9	1.4	3.0	2.3	-3.5
Bulgaria	0.3	1.6	1.7	2.1	-4.0
Netherlands	0.0	1.3	1.4	1.7	-4.2
Germany	1.2	1.3	1.9	1.5	-4.3
Latvia	0.2	-0.8	-0.8	-0.6	-4.5
Ireland % GDP	-0.8	-0.3	0.1	0.5	-4.9
Slovakia	-2.6	-1.0	-1.0	-1.3	-5.5
Finland	-1.7	-0.7	-0.9	-0.9	-5.5
Czech Republic	0.7	1.5	0.9	0.3	-5.6
Estonia	-0.4	-0.5	-0.6	0.1	-5.6
Cyprus	0.3	1.9	-3.5	1.3	-5.7
Portugal	-1.9	-3.0	-0.3	0.1	-5.8
EU 27	-1.4	-0.8	-0.4	-0.5	-6.9
Poland	-2.4	-1.5	-0.2	-0.7	-7.1
Eurozone 19	-1.5	-0.9	-0.4	-0.6	-7.2
Lithuania	0.3	0.4	0.5	0.5	-7.2
Croatia	-0.9	0.8	0.2	0.3	-7.4
Slovenia	-1.9	-0.1	0.7	0.4	-7.7
Hungary	-1.8	-2.5	-2.1	-2.1	-8.0
Austria	-1.5	-0.8	0.2	0.6	-8.3
Ireland % GNI*	-1.2	-0.5	0.2	0.8	-8.8
Belgium	-2.4	-0.7	-0.8	-1.9	-9.1
France	-3.6	-3.0	-2.3	-3.1	-9.1
Romania	-2.6	-2.6	-2.9	-4.4	-9.4
Italy	-2.4	-2.4	-2.2	-1.5	-9.6
Malta	1.1	3.2	1.9	0.5	-9.7
Greece	0.2	0.6	0.9	1.1	-10.1
Spain	-4.3	-3.0	-2.5	-2.9	-11.0

United Kingdom	-3.3	-2.4	-2.2	-2.2	-12.9
Source: Eurostat Government Statistics, CSO Government Finance Statistics
¹Sorted by 2020, descending.
²United Kingdom data provided by the Office for National Statistics.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.6 (XLS 10KB)

In 2010, Ireland's public balance as a percentage of GDP was -32.1%, meaning that net borrowing exceeded net lending for that year.
After 2010, Ireland's public balance increased, and by 2015 it had fallen within the 3.0% deficit limit established by the EMU Stability and Growth Pact.
In 2020, Ireland’s public balance, the ratio between net lending and net borrowing, was -4.9% of GDP and -8.8% of GNI*. In 2019, the public balance was 0.5% of GDP and 0.8% of GNI*.

Ireland’s public balance in 2020 as a percentage of GDP was two percentage points higher than that of the EU27 average of -6.9%.

The country with the lowest public balance deficit in 2020 was Denmark at 0.2% of GDP. Spain had the greatest public balance deficit at 11.0%. Apart from Denmark (-0.2%) and Sweden (-2.8%), all EU27 countries exceeded the 3% EMU limit in 2020.

Year	3% deficit limit	% GDP	%GNI*
2010	-3	-32.1	-41.8
2011	-3	-13.6	-18.4
2012	-3	-8.5	-11.7
2013	-3	-6.4	-8.4
2014	-3	-3.6	-4.8
2015	-3	-2	-3.3
2016	-3	-0.8	-1.2
2017	-3	-0.3	-0.5
2018	-3	0.1	0.2
2019	-3	0.5	0.8
2020	-3	-4.9	-8.8

Ireland: General government total expenditure

Table 2.7 Ireland: General government total expenditure, 2010-2020
Year	€ million	%
Year	General Government Total Expenditure	% of GDP	% of GNI*
2010	108,628	64.9	84.5
2011	81,158	47.3	63.8
2012	74,615	42.5	58.8
2013	72,810	40.6	53.3
2014	73,242	37.6	49.2
2015	76,356	29.1	47.0
2016	75,791	28.1	43.4
2017	77,802	26.2	42.0
2018	82,587	25.3	41.7
2019	86,286	24.2	40.0
2020	102,033	27.4	49.0
Source: CSO, Government Finance Statistics

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.7 (XLS 10KB)

General government total expenditure decreased in Ireland from €108.6 bn in 2010 to €72.8 bn in 2013. It then increased to €76.4 bn by 2015. After falling to €75.8 bn in 2016, general government total expenditure then increased again and by 2020 government expenditure was €102.0 bn.

Government total expenditure decreased in each year from 64.9% of GDP in 2010 to 24.2% by 2019, before increasing to 27.4% in 2020.

Government spending in Ireland as a percentage of GNI* follows a similar pattern, where it decreased from 84.5% in 2010 to 40.0% in 2019, before increasing to 49.0% in 2020.

Year	% of GDP	% of GNI*
2010	64.9	84.5
2011	47.3	63.8
2012	42.5	58.8
2013	40.6	53.3
2014	37.6	49.2
2015	29.1	47
2016	28.1	43.4
2017	26.2	42
2018	25.3	41.7
2019	24.2	40
2020	27.4	49

By country: Gross fixed capital formation

Table 2.8 By country: Gross fixed capital formation, 2016-2020^1,2
Percentage of GDP
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Ireland % GNI*	55.3	53.3	46.6	88.6	71.0
Ireland % GDP	35.8	33.3	28.2	53.6	39.7
Estonia	24.4	25.9	24.7	25.4	30.7
Hungary	19.5	22.1	24.7	27.1	26.8
Czech Republic	24.9	24.9	26.3	27.1	26.2
Austria	23.1	23.6	24.1	25.0	25.2
Sweden	24.2	25.1	25.2	24.4	24.8
Latvia	19.3	20.6	22.1	23.2	24.5
Finland	22.7	23.3	24.1	23.8	24.2
Belgium	23.3	23.3	23.6	24.2	23.9
Romania	22.9	22.4	21.1	22.6	23.8
France	21.8	22.5	22.9	23.5	23.0
Denmark	21.0	21.2	21.7	21.3	22.4
Croatia	19.8	19.7	20.1	21.5	22.3
EU27	20.4	20.8	21.1	22.2	21.9
Germany	20.3	20.4	21.1	21.4	21.9
Malta	24.4	21.7	21.3	21.5	21.7
Netherlands	20.0	20.1	20.4	21.3	21.3
Lithuania	19.9	20.1	20.9	21.5	21.1
Spain	18.0	18.7	19.4	20.1	20.3
Cyprus	18.1	20.9	18.8	18.8	20.0
Slovakia	21.1	21.2	21.0	21.6	19.6
Bulgaria	18.4	18.3	18.8	18.6	19.2
Portugal	15.5	16.8	17.5	18.1	19.1
Slovenia	17.4	18.3	19.3	19.6	18.9
Italy	17.2	17.5	17.8	17.9	17.8
Luxembourg	17.3	17.8	16.3	17.6	16.8
Poland	18.0	17.5	18.2	18.3	16.6
Greece	11.0	11.8	11.1	10.6	11.7

United Kingdom	17.6	18.0	17.8	17.7	17.1

EFTA Countries:
Norway	25.2	24.6	23.9	26.9	27.3
Switzerland	25.4	26.0	25.6	25.5	25.7
Iceland	20.9	21.8	22.0	21.4	21.5

EU Candidate Countries:
Montenegro	24.7	26.9	29.2	27.3	27.9
Turkey	29.1	29.9	29.7	25.9	27.4
Albania	24.4	24.6	23.9	22.3	23.0
Serbia	17.1	17.7	20.0	22.5	21.4
Macedonia	24.4	22.5	20.0	21.2	:
Source: Eurostat Annual National Accounts, CSO NIEAR
¹Sorted by 2020, descending.
²United Kingdom data provided by the Office for National Statistics.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.8 (XLS 17KB)

Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) in Ireland was 39.7% of GDP in 2020, the highest rate in the EU27, and above the EU27 average of 21.9%.

As a percentage of GNI*, Ireland's investment in capital formation was 71.0%. This was a fall from 2019, where GFCF as a percentage of GNI* was 88.6%.

Greece had the lowest GFCF (as a percentage of GDP) within the EU27 in 2020, at 11.7%.

By country: Current account balance

Table 2.9 By country: Current account balance, 2016-2020¹
Percentage of GDP
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Denmark	7.8	8.0	7.3	8.8	8.1
Slovenia	4.8	6.2	6.0	6.0	7.4
Lithuania	-1.1	0.5	0.3	3.5	7.3
Germany	8.5	7.8	7.8	7.4	7.0
Netherlands	8.1	10.8	10.8	9.4	7.0
Sweden	2.4	2.9	2.7	5.5	6.0
Luxembourg	4.8	4.7	4.7	4.6	4.3
Italy	2.6	2.6	2.5	3.2	3.8
Czech Republic	1.8	1.5	0.5	0.3	3.6
Latvia	1.6	1.3	-0.2	-0.7	2.9
Poland	-0.8	-0.4	-1.3	0.5	2.9
Austria	2.7	1.4	0.9	2.1	1.9
Belgium	0.6	0.7	-0.8	0.2	0.8
Spain	3.2	2.8	1.9	2.1	0.8
Finland	-2.0	-0.8	-1.8	-0.3	0.8
Slovakia	-2.7	-1.9	-2.2	-3.4	0.1
Croatia	2.3	3.5	1.9	3.0	-0.1
Bulgaria	3.1	3.3	0.9	1.9	-0.3
Estonia	1.2	2.3	0.8	2.5	-0.3
Portugal	1.2	1.3	0.6	0.4	-1.1
Hungary	4.5	2.0	0.2	-0.7	-1.5
France	-0.5	-0.8	-0.8	-0.3	-1.9
Ireland % GDP	-4.2	0.5	4.9	-19.9	-2.7
Malta	-0.6	5.9	6.4	5.4	-3.1
Ireland % GNI	-6.5	0.8	8.1	-32.8	-4.8
Romania	-1.6	-3.1	-4.6	-4.9	-5.0
Greece	-1.7	-1.9	-2.9	-1.5	-6.6
Cyprus	-4.2	-5.1	-4.0	-5.7	-10.1

United Kingdom	-5.5	-3.8	-3.7	-3.1	:

EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	8.0	6.2	6.1	5.5	2.8
Iceland	8.2	4.2	3.6	5.8	0.9
Norway	4.0	5.5	8.0	2.9	0.7

EU Candidate Countries:
Macedonia	-2.9	-1.0	-0.1	-3.3	-3.4
Serbia	-3.6	-5.2	-4.9	-7.1	-4.3
Turkey	-3.1	-4.7	-2.7	0.9	-5.0
Albania	-7.6	-7.5	-6.7	-7.9	-8.8
Montenegro	-16.2	-16.1	-17.0	-14.3	-26.1
Source: Eurostat Balance of Payments, CSO Balance of Payments
¹Sorted by 2020, descending.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.9 (XLS 11KB)

In 2020 Ireland had a current account deficit of 2.7% of GDP, the fifth highest in the EU27.

As a percentage of GNI*, Ireland’s current account deficit was 4.8% in 2020.

In 2020, eleven countries (including Ireland) in the EU27 had a current account deficit, namely Croatia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Portugal, Hungary, France, Ireland, Malta, Romania, Greece and Cyprus.

By country: Exports of goods and services

Table 2.10 By country: Exports of goods and services, 2016-2020^1,2
% of GDP
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Ireland % GNI*	187.8	194.3	202.7	211.6	234.8
Luxembourg	189.7	194.3	197.6	205.3	201.7
Ireland % GDP	121.5	121.1	123.0	127.9	131.1
Malta	144.0	141.9	132.8	132.6	130.7
Slovakia	92.6	94.6	95.5	92.0	85.8
Belgium	79.4	83.2	83.0	82.2	80.0
Hungary	86.4	85.9	83.7	81.8	79.5
Netherlands	79.5	83.4	84.7	82.5	77.9
Slovenia	77.6	83.2	84.9	84.0	77.9
Cyprus	70.5	73.9	75.1	75.6	76.0
Lithuania	67.6	73.6	75.2	77.3	73.5
Estonia	77.0	75.8	74.5	74.0	71.2
Czech Republic	79.1	79.0	77.0	73.9	71.0
Latvia	59.6	61.6	61.5	59.8	60.3
Bulgaria	63.8	67.0	65.7	63.9	56.2
Poland	51.9	54.2	55.2	55.4	56.2
Denmark	53.4	55.1	56.6	59.0	54.9
Austria	52.3	54.0	55.4	55.4	51.4
Sweden	42.7	43.8	45.8	48.2	44.9
Germany	46.1	47.2	47.3	46.6	43.5
Croatia	47.1	49.3	49.5	50.8	42.0
Portugal	40.6	42.9	43.7	43.7	37.2
Romania	41.8	42.0	41.9	40.4	37.2
Finland	34.8	37.5	38.5	39.9	36.2
Greece	31.2	34.9	38.7	39.6	31.2
Spain	33.9	35.1	35.2	35.0	30.6
Italy	29.3	30.8	31.4	31.7	29.4
France	31.6	32.1	32.8	32.7	28.8

United Kingdom	28.2	30.0	30.5	31.0	28.1

EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	65.1	64.7	65.7	65.0	62.2
Iceland	47.6	45.7	46.8	44.3	34.4
Norway	35.4	36.2	37.9	36.1	32.1

EU Candidate Countries:
Macedonia	50.9	54.9	60.1	62.2	58.2
Serbia	47.3	49.2	49.5	50.9	47.6
Turkey	22.9	25.9	30.6	32.4	28.4
Montenegro	40.6	41.1	42.8	43.8	26.0
Albania	29.0	31.6	31.6	31.3	23.1
Source: Eurostat Balance of Payments, CSO NIEAR
¹Sorted by 2020, descending.
²United Kingdom data provided by the Office for National Statistics.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.10 (XLS 11KB)

Exports of goods and services were 131.1% of GDP in Ireland in 2020. This was the second highest in the EU27, after Luxembourg (201.7%).

In Ireland exports of goods and services increased from 187.8% of GNI* in 2016 to 234.8% in 2020.
Three other EU27 countries, like Ireland, have shown an increase in exports as a percentage of GDP between 2019 and 2020, namely; Cyprus, Latvia and Poland.

France had the lowest percentage of exports in the EU27 in 2020, at 28.8% of GDP.

By country: Imports of goods and services

Table 2.11 By country: Imports of goods and services, 2016-2020^1,2
% of GDP
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Ireland % GNI*	163.6	158.8	155.6	205.8	194.9
Luxembourg	145.7	154.7	159.3	168.4	164.4
Malta	132.9	124.4	117.2	117.9	122.9
Ireland % GDP	105.9	99.0	94.4	124.4	108.8
Slovakia	90.6	92.8	94.7	91.9	83.6
Belgium	78.2	82.1	83.3	81.5	78.6
Cyprus	68.9	74.4	73.8	75.4	78.6
Hungary	77.7	79.1	79.5	79.5	77.8
Estonia	73.4	71.8	71.9	69.9	70.7
Slovenia	69.1	74.2	76.4	75.3	68.6
Netherlands	69.3	72.6	74.1	72.7	67.4
Czech Republic	71.5	71.6	71.0	67.9	64.2
Lithuania	66.9	71.3	73.4	72.1	64.2
Latvia	59.3	62.2	62.2	60.5	59.2
Bulgaria	58.9	62.7	63.2	60.7	54.4
Poland	48.2	50.4	52.2	50.7	49.4
Croatia	45.9	48.6	50.3	51.1	48.8
Austria	48.6	51.0	52.5	52.1	48.6
Denmark	46.7	47.9	50.4	51.6	48.4
Romania	42.8	44.5	45.3	44.5	41.5
Sweden	39.6	41.1	43.5	43.8	40.3
Portugal	38.9	41.5	42.8	42.9	39.0
Greece	32.1	35.9	40.5	40.6	38.0
Germany	38.7	40.1	41.1	41.0	37.7
Finland	36.1	37.5	39.7	39.7	35.9
France	32.1	33.1	34.0	33.7	30.7
Spain	29.9	31.5	32.4	32.0	29.1
Italy	26.0	27.8	29.0	28.3	25.7

United Kingdom	29.9	31.3	31.8	31.9	28.0

EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	55.6	55.8	55.3	55.2	55.3
Iceland	40.9	41.3	43.4	39.8	35.1
Norway	33.7	32.7	32.1	34.6	33.0

EU Candidate Countries:
Macedonia	66.2	69.0	72.8	76.6	71.0
Montenegro	63.1	64.5	66.8	65.0	61.0
Serbia	54.2	56.9	59.2	61.0	56.4
Albania	45.9	46.7	45.3	45.0	37.9
Turkey	25.1	29.6	31.8	29.9	32.1
Source: Eurostat Balance of Payments, CSO NIEAR
¹Sorted by 2020, descending.
²United Kingdom data provided by the Office for National Statistics.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.11 (XLS 11KB)

In 2020, Ireland had the third highest imports of goods and services in the EU27 at 108.8% of GDP. This is a decrease from 124.4% in 2019.

As a percentage of GNI*, Ireland's imports were 194.9% in 2020, down from 205.8% in 2019.

The high level of imports and exports relative to national income reflects that Ireland's economy is very open (see Table 2.10 for data on exports).

Three countries (including Ireland) had imports greater than 100% of their GDP in 2020 –Luxembourg (164.4%) and Malta (122.9%).

Italy had the lowest imports as a percentage of GDP in the EU27 in 2020, at 25.7%.

By country: Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices

Table 2.12 By country: Harmonised index of consumer prices, 2016-2020¹
Base 2015=100
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	% Change 2016 to 2020
Hungary	100.5	102.8	105.8	109.5	113.2	12.6
Romania	98.9	100.0	104.1	108.2	110.7	11.9
Czech Republic	100.7	103.1	105.1	107.8	111.4	10.6
Lithuania	100.7	104.4	107.1	109.5	110.6	9.9
Slovakia	99.5	100.9	103.5	106.3	108.5	9.0
Estonia	100.8	104.5	108.1	110.5	109.8	8.9
Poland	99.8	101.4	102.6	104.8	108.6	8.8
Latvia	100.1	103.0	105.6	108.5	108.6	8.5
Bulgaria	98.7	99.9	102.5	105.0	106.3	7.7
Austria	101.0	103.2	105.4	107.0	108.5	7.4
Netherlands	100.1	101.4	103.0	105.8	107.0	6.8
Sweden	101.1	103.0	105.1	106.9	107.6	6.4
Belgium	101.8	104.0	106.4	107.8	108.2	6.3
Luxembourg	100.0	102.2	104.2	105.9	105.9	5.9
EU27	100.2	101.7	103.6	105.0	105.8	5.6
Germany	100.4	102.1	104.0	105.5	105.8	5.4
Malta	100.9	102.2	104.0	105.5	106.4	5.4
France	100.3	101.5	103.6	105.0	105.5	5.2
Slovenia	99.9	101.4	103.4	105.1	104.8	5.0
Eurozone 19	100.2	101.8	103.6	104.8	105.1	4.8
Spain	99.7	101.7	103.5	104.3	103.9	4.3
Croatia	99.4	100.7	102.2	103.0	103.1	3.7
Finland	100.4	101.2	102.4	103.6	104.0	3.6
Italy	99.9	101.3	102.5	103.2	103.0	3.1
Denmark	100.0	101.1	101.8	102.5	102.9	2.9
Portugal	100.6	102.2	103.4	103.7	103.6	2.9
Ireland	99.8	100.1	100.8	101.7	101.2	1.4
Greece	100.0	101.2	101.9	102.5	101.2	1.1
Cyprus	98.8	99.5	100.2	100.8	99.7	0.9

United Kingdom	100.7	103.4	105.9	107.8	:	:

EFTA Countries:
Norway	103.9	105.8	109.0	111.5	112.8	8.6
Iceland	100.8	99.1	99.9	101.8	103.0	2.2
Switzerland	99.5	100.1	101.0	101.4	100.6	1.1

EU Candidate Countries:
Turkey	107.7	119.6	139.2	160.3	180.0	67.2
Serbia	101.3	104.7	106.8	108.8	110.7	9.3
Macedonia	100.2	102.4	104.7	105.4	106.7	6.5
Source: Eurostat HICP
¹Sorted by "% Change 2016 to 2020", descending.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.12 (XLS 11KB)

Ireland had the third smallest percentage increase in consumer prices between 2016 and 2020 in the EU27 of 1.4%, less than the average of the EU27 at 5.6%

Hungary had the highest percentage increase in the EU27 between 2016 and 2020 at 12.6%, while Cyprus had the lowest at 0.9%.

No country in the EU27 showed a percentage decrease in consumer prices between 2016 and 2020.

Year	EU27	Eurozone 19	Ireland
2010	93	93.1	96.2
2011	95.7	95.7	97.4
2012	98.2	98.1	99.2
2013	99.5	99.4	99.7
2014	99.9	99.8	100
2015	100	100	100
2016	100.2	100.2	99.8
2017	101.7	101.8	100.1
2018	103.6	103.6	100.8
2019	105	104.8	101.7
2020	105.8	105.1	101.2

By country: Comparative price levels of final consumption by private households including direct taxes

Table 2.13 By country: Comparative price levels of final consumption by private households including direct taxes, 2016-2020¹
					EU27 = 100
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Denmark	146.2	143.1	141.4	141.8	140.1
Ireland	129.4	131.6	134.1	135.7	140.0
Luxembourg	128.0	128.8	126.9	128.4	132.2
Finland	126.2	125.1	125.7	126.3	126.8
Sweden	130.8	131.3	125.1	123.5	123.3
Netherlands	115.9	114.8	114.3	116.5	115.8
Belgium	113.4	114.3	114.7	114.9	113.9
France	112.5	113.1	113.9	113.5	113.1
Austria	110.5	111.7	112.1	113.1	112.2
Germany	107.2	106.6	105.8	107.1	106.9
Italy	104.4	103.7	103.3	101.7	101.3
EU27	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Spain	95.4	94.8	96.4	96.1	97.5
Cyprus	89.6	89.8	90.9	91.4	91.0
Slovakia	78.0	82.4	84.5	86.7	89.9
Malta	84.6	86.3	86.5	87.0	89.6
Portugal	87.4	89.0	88.2	87.9	89.4
Greece	87.7	86.9	86.8	86.7	88.2
Slovenia	87.0	86.6	87.1	87.0	87.7
Estonia	78.8	80.9	83.0	84.9	85.2
Latvia	74.5	74.9	76.7	78.1	78.8
Czech Republic	68.3	70.5	74.0	75.1	76.9
Croatia	68.6	69.2	70.6	71.3	70.8
Lithuania	65.1	66.1	67.5	68.4	70.4
Hungary	62.4	65.9	66.0	67.4	66.3
Poland	56.0	58.8	59.6	60.2	59.8
Romania	53.8	54.8	55.7	55.6	55.5
Bulgaria	49.7	51.2	51.9	53.5	55.0

United Kingdom	127.8	119.7	119.6	120.2	120.6

EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	168.3	164.8	158.9	164.9	169.6
Iceland	158.9	174.2	168.4	161.8	143.1
Norway	152.7	148.5	145.6	144.8	136.2

EU Candidate Countries:
Albania	51.1	52.4	55.9	58.1	60.4
Montenegro	56.0	56.9	57.5	57.1	60.0
Serbia	51.5	53.8	55.8	56.5	58.7
Macedonia	48.0	48.8	49.9	49.8	51.0
Turkey	61.8	55.3	45.9	47.5	44.3
Source: Eurostat, Purchasing Power Parities
¹Sorted by 2020, descending.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.13 (XLS 11KB)

In 2020, comparative price levels of final consumption by private households in Ireland were 40.0% higher than the EU27 average.

Ireland had the second highest price level in the EU27 in 2020, while Denmark had the highest at 140.1.

In 2010 price levels for final consumption by private households in Ireland were 20.2% above the EU27 average (see Figure 2.9). Price levels in Ireland have increased each year since then.

Bulgaria had the lowest comparative price levels in 2020, with prices just over half the EU27 average at 55.0%.

Year	EU27	Eurozone 19	Ireland
2010	100	104.7	120.2
2011	100	104.9	121.1
2012	100	105.1	121.8
2013	100	105.1	124.1
2014	100	105.4	128
2015	100	105.6	128.4
2016	100	105.7	129.4
2017	100	105.5	131.6
2018	100	105.7	134.1
2019	100	105.8	135.7
2020	100	106	140

By country: Employment rates by sex

Table 2.14 By country: Employment rates by sex, 2020^1,2
% of population aged 15-64
Country	Total Persons	Males	Females	Gender Differential
Netherlands	77.8	81.6	73.9	7.7
Germany	76.2	79.0	73.2	5.8
Sweden	75.5	77.4	73.5	3.9
Czech Republic	74.4	81.4	67.1	14.3
Denmark	74.4	77.3	71.4	5.9
Malta	73.7	81.7	64.6	17.1
Estonia	73.2	75.8	70.5	5.3
Austria	72.4	76.5	68.3	8.2
Finland	72.1	73.4	70.7	2.7
Latvia	71.6	73.1	70.2	2.9
Lithuania	71.6	72.2	71.0	1.2
Slovenia	70.9	73.7	67.8	5.9
Cyprus	69.9	75.9	64.3	11.6
Hungary	69.7	77.0	62.3	14.7
Portugal	69.0	71.6	66.6	5.0
Poland	68.7	75.9	61.5	14.4
Bulgaria	68.5	72.5	64.3	8.2
EU27	67.6	72.8	62.5	10.3
Slovakia	67.5	73.3	61.7	11.6
Luxembourg	67.2	70.4	63.9	6.5
Eurozone 19	67.1	71.8	62.3	9.5
Romania	65.6	74.4	56.5	17.9
France	65.3	68.5	62.2	6.3
Belgium	64.7	68.4	61.0	7.4
Ireland	63.2	69.3	57.2	12.1
Croatia	62.0	67.1	56.9	10.2
Spain	60.9	66.1	55.7	10.4
Italy	58.1	67.2	49.0	18.2
Greece	56.3	65.2	47.5	17.7

United Kingdom	:	:	:	:

EFTA Countries:
Iceland	80.3	82.6	77.8	4.8
Switzerland	79.9	83.9	75.9	8.0
Norway	74.7	76.6	72.7	3.9

EU Candidate Countries:
Serbia	61.3	67.8	54.8	13.0
Macedonia	54.7	63.7	45.3	18.4
Montenegro	50.3	56.1	44.4	11.7
Turkey	47.5	65.2	29.7	35.5
Source: Eurostat Labour Force Survey, CSO Labour Force Survey
¹Sorted by "Total Persons", descending.
²Data for Ireland refers to Q2 2020.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.14 (XLS 11KB)

The employment rate in Ireland was 63.2% in 2020, lower than the EU27 average of 67.6%. The Netherlands had the highest employment rate in 2020 at 77.8%. The lowest rate of employment was in Greece, at 56.3%.

The employment rate in Ireland fell from 61.3% in 2010 to 59.8% in 2012, before increasing annually to 69.0% in 2019. The rate fell by 5.8 percentage points in 2020 to stand at 63.2%.

The male employment rate fell from 65.4% in 2010 to 63.4% in 2012 and then rose to 74.5% in 2019, before falling to 69.3% in 2020. The employment rate for females followed a similar pattern, falling from 57.2% in 2010 to 56.2% in 2012 and then rising to 63.5% in 2019, before falling to 57.2% in 2020.

Across all countries in the EU27, there was a higher rate of males in employment than females. The average gender differential across the EU27 was 10.3 percentage points.

The gender differential in Ireland in 2020 was 12.1 percentage points. Italy had the highest gender differential at 18.2% while Lithuania had the lowest at 1.2%.

Year	Persons	Males	Females
2010	61.3	65.4	57.2
2011	60.4	64.1	56.7
2012	59.8	63.4	56.2
2013	61.4	65.8	57
2014	62.5	67.7	57.4
2015	64.5	70.2	58.9
2016	66.3	71.5	61.1
2017	67.4	72.6	62.2
2018	68.4	73.7	63.2
2019	69	74.5	63.5
2020	63.2	69.3	57.2

By country: GDP in PPS per hour worked

Table 2.15 By country: GDP in PPS per hour worked, 2016-2020^1,2,3
EU27 = 100
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Ireland	169.0	171.9	176.7	176.7	189.2
Luxembourg	189.9	184.1	178.0	172.1	176.0
Denmark	133.7	136.2	137.8	136.9	139.4
Belgium	136.5	134.0	133.5	133.5	137.9
France	124.5	124.2	124.0	126.1	126.5
Netherlands	126.3	125.5	124.8	122.6	122.3
Germany	124.7	124.9	124.8	122.2	121.9
Austria	119.5	117.5	117.8	115.9	117.4
Sweden	114.1	112.4	111.6	112.6	113.5
Ireland excluding Foreign Sector²	95.7	99.2	103.0	106.6	110.9
Eurozone 19	111.0	110.6	109.8	109.2	110.0
Finland	110.6	111.8	110.3	108.0	107.6
Italy	103.2	101.9	100.9	100.3	101.9
EU27	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Spain	98.4	98.2	95.8	94.8	92.7
Slovenia	80.5	82.3	83.8	83.8	83.2
Czech Republic	74.5	75.8	76.5	77.9	77.7
Cyprus	78.1	77.6	77.0	76.6	74.2
Estonia	64.8	65.5	69.9	71.1	72.5
Slovakia	72.7	70.4	69.8	69.6	72.1
Malta	78.3	81.5	79.5	76.0	71.7
Lithuania	61.5	65.4	66.3	67.9	69.9
Hungary	63.5	63.4	65.5	66.6	68.1
Portugal	67.9	66.2	65.6	65.6	65.8
Romania	57.2	60.4	62.6	65.4	64.2
Poland	59.4	60.3	62.5	64.8	63.5
Croatia	66.8	67.0	67.0	65.8	60.2
Latvia	56.6	58.3	59.0	60.2	60.1
Greece	59.0	58.9	55.9	56.7	56.1
Bulgaria	45.8	45.9	47.2	48.6	48.8

EFTA Countries:
Norway	144.8	151.6	158.4	146.7	135.9
Switzerland	132.8	130.8	131.4	129.2	129.4
Iceland	114.1	112.8	112.6	115.9	111.9
Source: Eurostat Employment Performance Monitor, CSO Productivity in Ireland 2019
¹Data unavailable for the United Kingdom and EU Candidate Countries.
²Ireland excluding the Foreign Sector accounts for GDP in PPS per hour worked, this measure excludes the impact of sectors dominated by foreign owned Multinational Enterprises. See Appendix 1.
³Sorted by 2020, descending.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.15 (XLS 11KB)

GDP in PPS per hour worked can be considered a measure of labour productivity per hour worked. When the Foreign Sector is excluded, Ireland had a GDP in PPS per hour worked 10.9% higher than the EU27 average in 2020.
Labour productivity in all sectors in Ireland increased from 36.9% to 74.5% above the EU27 average between 2014 and 2015. This large increase can be mainly attributed to the impact of globalisation on GDP (see Tables 2.1 and 2.3).
Bulgaria had the lowest labour productivity in 2020 at 48.8%.

Year	Ireland	EU27
2009	123.9	100
2010	136.7	100
2011	138.6	100
2012	139.9	100
2013	134.4	100
2014	136.9	100
2015	174.5	100
2016	169	100
2017	171.9	100
2018	176.7	100
2019	176.7	100

By country: Unemployment rates by sex

Table 2.16 By country: Unemployment rates by sex, 2020^1,2
Unemployment rate % (Persons aged 15-74)
Country	Total Persons	Males	Females	Gender Differential
Greece	16.3	13.6	19.8	-6.2
Spain	15.5	13.9	17.4	-3.5
Italy	9.2	8.4	10.2	-1.8
Lithuania	8.5	9.3	7.7	1.6
Sweden	8.3	8.3	8.3	0.0
Latvia	8.1	9.1	7.1	2.0
France	8.0	8.1	8.0	0.1
Eurozone 19	7.9	7.6	8.2	-0.6
Finland	7.8	8.0	7.5	0.5
Cyprus	7.6	7.6	7.6	0.0
Croatia	7.5	7.5	7.6	-0.1
EU27	7.1	6.8	7.4	-0.6
Estonia	7.0	7.1	6.8	0.3
Portugal	6.9	6.6	7.1	-0.5
Luxembourg	6.8	6.6	7.0	-0.4
Slovakia	6.7	6.4	7.1	-0.7
Belgium	5.6	5.7	5.4	0.3
Denmark	5.6	5.3	6.0	-0.7
Ireland	5.4	5.4	5.4	0.0
Austria	5.4	5.5	5.2	0.3
Bulgaria	5.1	5.4	4.8	0.6
Romania	5.0	5.3	4.7	0.6
Slovenia	5.0	4.4	5.6	-1.2
Malta	4.4	4.3	4.5	-0.2
Hungary	4.3	4.1	4.5	-0.4
Germany	3.8	4.2	3.4	0.8
Netherlands	3.8	3.7	4.0	-0.3
Poland	3.2	3.1	3.3	-0.2
Czech Republic	2.6	2.2	3.0	-0.8

United Kingdom	:	:	:	:

EFTA Countries:
Iceland	5.5	5.6	5.3	0.3
Switzerland	4.8	4.7	5.0	-0.3
Norway	4.4	4.7	4.1	0.6

EU Candidate Countries:
Montenegro	17.9	17.5	18.4	-0.9
Macedonia	16.4	16.7	15.9	0.8
Turkey	13.2	12.4	14.9	-2.5
Serbia	9.1	8.8	9.5	-0.7
Source: Eurostat Labour Force Survey, CSO Labour Force Survey
¹Sorted by "Total Persons", descending.
²Data for Ireland refers to Q2 2020.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.16 (XLS 11KB)

In 2020, Ireland had a total unemployment rate of 5.4%, which was below the EU27 average of 7.1%. Along with Austria, this was the tenth lowest unemployment rate in the EU27 in 2020.

In Ireland, the male unemployment rate in 2020 was 5.4%, the same as the female rate of unemployment. This resulted in a gender differential of 0.0%.

The Czech Republic had the lowest unemployment rate in the EU27 in 2020, at 2.6%, while Greece had the highest at 16.3%.

The female unemployment rate in the EU27 was 7.4% compared to 6.8% for males, resulting in gender differential of 0.6%. A total of fourteen countries in the EU27 had a female unemployment rate higher than that of males.

Ireland, Cyprus, and Sweden were the only countries in the EU27 with a gender differential of zero in 2020.

Year	EU27	Ireland
2010	9.8	14.6
2011	9.9	15.3
2012	10.8	15.9
2013	11.4	14.7
2014	10.9	12.5
2015	10.1	10.3
2016	9.1	9.1
2017	8.2	6.9
2018	7.3	6.1
2019	6.7	5.4
2020	7.1	5.4

By country: Long-term unemployment rates by sex

Table 2.17 By country: Long-term unemployment rates by sex, 2020^1,2
Unemployment rate % (Persons aged 15-74)
Country	Total Persons	Males	Females	Gender Differential
Greece	10.5	8.2	13.5	-5.3
Spain	5.0	4.1	6.1	-2.0
Italy	4.7	4.3	5.3	-1.0
Slovakia	3.2	3.2	3.3	-0.1
Eurozone 19	2.8	2.6	2.9	-0.3
Lithuania	2.5	2.5	2.4	0.1
EU27	2.4	2.3	2.5	-0.2
Belgium	2.3	2.5	2.1	0.4
Portugal	2.3	2.3	2.4	-0.1
Bulgaria	2.2	2.4	2.0	0.4
Latvia	2.2	2.9	1.5	1.4
Croatia	2.1	2.1	2.2	-0.1
Cyprus	2.1	2.3	2.0	0.3
France	1.9	2.0	1.8	0.2
Slovenia	1.9	1.5	2.4	-0.9
Luxembourg	1.7	1.6	1.9	-0.3
Austria	1.7	1.8	1.5	0.3
Romania	1.5	1.7	1.2	0.5
Estonia	1.2	1.3	1.0	0.3
Finland	1.2	1.3	1.1	0.2
Ireland	1.1	1.2	1.1	0.1
Germany	1.1	1.3	0.9	0.4
Hungary	1.1	1.1	1.0	0.1
Malta	1.1	1.3	0.8	0.5
Sweden	1.1	1.2	1.1	0.1
Denmark	0.9	0.7	1.2	-0.5
Netherlands	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.0
Czech Republic	0.6	0.5	0.6	-0.1
Poland	0.6	0.6	0.7	-0.1

EFTA Countries:
Switzerland	1.5	1.5	1.6	-0.1
Norway	0.9	1.0	0.7	0.3
Iceland	0.5	0.5	:	:

EU Candidate Countries:
Montenegro	13.4	12.8	14.0	-1.2
Macedonia	12.4	12.7	11.9	0.8
Serbia	4.3	4.0	4.6	-0.6
Turkey	3.3	2.5	4.9	-2.4
Source: Eurostat Labour Force Survey, CSO Labour Force Survey
¹Sorted by "Total Persons", descending.
²Data for Ireland refers to Q2 2020.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.17 (XLS 12KB)

In 2020, Ireland had a long-term unemployment rate of 1.1%, below the EU27 average of 2.4%.

In the EU27, the Czech Republic and Poland had the lowest long-term unemployment rates at 0.6%, and Greece had the highest at 10.5%.

In Ireland, the male long-term unemployment rate was 1.2% compared to 1.1% for females, resulting in a gender differential of 0.1 percentage points.

The country with the highest gender differential in the EU27 was Greece at 5.3 percentage points (female long-term unemployment was higher than male).

Only one country in the EU27 had a gender differential of zero, namely the Netherlands.

Year	EU27	Eurozone 19	Ireland
2010	3.8	4.1	6.5
2011	4.2	4.4	8.3
2012	4.7	5	9.4
2013	5.3	5.7	8.1
2014	5.2	5.8	6.8
2015	4.8	5.3	5.5
2016	4.2	4.7	4.4
2017	3.6	4.1	3.1
2018	3.1	3.6	2
2019	2.6	3.1	1.7
2020	2.4	2.8	1.1

By country: Population aged 18-59 living in jobless households

Table 2.18 By country: Share of persons living in jobless households, 2016-2020^1,2,3
% of target population
Country	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Czech Republic	5.0	4.2	3.8	3.8	4.1
Malta	6.2	6.1	5.3	5.3	4.8
Slovenia	9.0	6.9	6.0	5.8	5.4
Hungary	7.1	6.2	5.5	5.3	5.6
Portugal	8.2	6.9	6.0	5.6	5.7
Slovakia	6.4	6.6	5.8	6.2	6.6
Cyprus	10.3	9.1	7.2	6.8	6.7
Netherlands	8.4	8.2	7.5	7.1	7.1
Poland	8.6	8.0	7.5	7.5	7.3
Germany	8.1	7.9	7.5	7.0	7.5
Romania	10.6	8.9	8.2	7.2	7.5
Croatia	10.2	9.3	9.0	7.9	7.7
Latvia	8.9	8.4	7.9	7.0	8.0
Austria	8.7	8.1	7.4	7.0	8.0
Estonia	7.5	7.0	7.4	7.2	8.1
Bulgaria	11.7	9.8	8.8	7.5	8.4
Luxembourg	9.4	9.1	8.4	8.4	8.4
EU27	10.3	9.7	9.1	8.8	9.2
Denmark	8.7	9.7	8.5	8.4	9.4
Lithuania	10.6	10.0	8.7	8.3	9.4
Ireland	10.9	9.8	9.4	8.6	9.6
Eurozone 19	10.7	10.2	9.6	9.3	9.8
Finland	10.5	10.1	8.9	9.0	9.9
France	11.5	11.1	10.6	10.8	10.7
Spain	12.6	11.4	10.4	9.7	11.2
Belgium	12.4	12.3	11.8	11.2	11.6
Sweden	9.8	9.4	9.9	10.3	12.4
Italy	12.8	12.2	11.8	11.8	12.5
Greece	17.1	16.1	14.8	13.6	13.5

United Kingdom	9.1	8.9	8.5	8.2	:

EU Candidate Countries:
Serbia	12.9	11.7	10.4	9.6	9.4
Macedonia	13.7	13.3	12.5	11.5	11.4
Turkey	11.4	11.1	10.8	12.9	15.5
Montenegro	18.4	16.6	14.8	15.4	18.5
Source: Eurostat Labour Force Survey
¹This indicator is calculated as the share of persons aged 18-59 who are living in households where no-one works. Students aged 18-24 who live in households composed solely of students of the same age class are not included.
²Data unavailable for the EFTA countries.
³Sorted by 2020, ascending.
: Data is unavailable.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.18 (XLS 11KB)

In Ireland, 9.6% of persons aged 18-59 lived in jobless households in 2020. This was above the EU27 average of 9.2%, but less than the Eurozone 19 average of 9.8%.

Ireland had the eighth highest percentage of people living in a jobless household in the EU27.

In 2020, the Czech Republic had the lowest percentage of people living in jobless households at 4.1%, while Greece had the highest at 13.5%.

The percentage of people aged 18-59 living in jobless households in Ireland increased from 14.4% to 15.7% between 2010 and 2012, dropped to 8.6% in 2019 and then rose again to 9.6% in 2020.

Year	EU27	Eurozone 19	Ireland
2010	10.3	10.2	14.4
2011	10.4	10.3	15.4
2012	10.8	10.9	15.7
2013	11.3	11.5	14.4
2014	11.1	11.5	12.9
2015	10.8	11.1	11.7
2016	10.3	10.7	10.9
2017	9.7	10.2	9.8
2018	9.1	9.6	9.4
2019	8.8	9.3	8.6
2020	9.2	9.8	9.6

Ireland: Residential Property Price Index

Table 2.19 Ireland: Residential Property Price Index, 2011-2021¹
Base year Jan 2005 = 100
Year	National	Dublin	Rest of Ireland
2011	78.0	70.5	81.3
2012	62.3	56.0	65.1
2013	60.2	58.6	58.3
2014	65.4	67.6	58.9
2015	77.3	83.0	66.6
2016	83.2	87.0	73.8
2017	90.5	92.0	82.4
2018	101.2	102.8	92.4
2019	106.5	105.6	99.6
2020	107.6	105.1	102.2
2021	110.3	106.1	106.2
Source: CSO, Residential Property Price Index
¹Data are from January of each year.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.19 (XLS 9KB)

Nationally, residential property prices decreased 22.8% between 2011 and 2013. In 2013, national property prices reached their lowest point, and from there they increased 83.2% by 2021.

In Dublin, residential property prices dropped 20.6% between 2011 and 2012, subsequently increasing 89.5% by 2021.

Property prices in the rest of Ireland decreased between 2011 and 2013 by 28.3%, before increasing 82.2% by 2021.

Year	National	Dublin	Rest of Ireland
2011	78	70.5	81.3
2012	62.3	56	65.1
2013	60.2	58.6	58.3
2014	65.4	67.6	58.9
2015	77.3	83	66.6
2016	83.2	87	73.8
2017	90.5	92	82.4
2018	101.2	102.8	92.4
2019	106.5	105.6	99.6
2020	107.6	105.1	102.2
2021	110.3	106.1	106.2

Ireland: New Dwelling Completions

Table 2.20 Ireland: New Dwelling Completions, 2012-2020¹
Year	Single House	Scheme House	Apartment	Total
2012	3,501	964	446	4,911
2013	2,947	1,155	473	4,575
2014	2,975	1,795	748	5,518
2015	3,252	3,294	673	7,219
2016	3,640	5,059	1,153	9,852
2017	4,245	7,880	2,204	14,329
2018	4,676	10,969	2,258	17,903
2019	5,062	12,509	3,478	21,049
2020	4,942	11,664	3,920	20,526
Source: CSO, Dwelling Completions
¹Scheme houses and apartments are part of multi-unit developments, whereas single houses stand alone. See Appendix 1.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020 Table 2.20 (XLS 9KB)

New Dwelling Completions is a measure by the CSO of housing and construction in Ireland. It combines multiple data sources to provide a more accurate assessment of the number of new dwellings.

The number of new dwellings in Ireland decreased from 4,911 in 2012, to 4,575 in 2013. It then rose to a total of 21,049 in 2019, before falling to 20,526 in 2020.

Between 2012 and 2020 apartments increased by 778.9%, scheme houses rose by 1110.0%, and single houses rose by 41.2%.

In 2020 there were 4,942 new single houses, 11,664 new scheme houses, and 3,920 new apartments built.

Year	Single house	Scheme house	Apartment
2012Q1	797	211	123
2012Q2	847	194	76
2012Q3	868	244	93
2012Q4	989	315	154
2013Q1	638	174	77
2013Q2	721	281	144
2013Q3	727	267	39
2013Q4	861	433	213
2014Q1	625	309	160
2014Q2	712	365	241
2014Q3	728	506	170
2014Q4	910	615	177
2015Q1	659	606	106
2015Q2	735	674	161
2015Q3	879	899	255
2015Q4	979	1115	151
2016Q1	696	936	336
2016Q2	884	1255	252
2016Q3	973	1222	284
2016Q4	1087	1646	281
2017Q1	871	1415	477
2017Q2	1029	1776	450
2017Q3	1120	2001	636
2017Q4	1225	2688	641
2018Q1	967	2016	475
2018Q2	1150	2759	483
2018Q3	1209	2832	585
2018Q4	1350	3362	715
2019Q1	1085	2565	593
2019Q2	1316	2823	660
2019Q3	1270	3310	1060
2019Q4	1391	3811	1165
2020Q1	1094	2835	999
2020Q2	868	1837	524
2020Q3	1461	2868	714
2020Q4	1519	4124	1683

Measuring Ireland's Progress 2020

Economy

Ireland: Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Income and Modified Gross National Income

By country: GDP and GNI at current market prices

By country: GDP growth rates

By country: GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Standards

By country: General government consolidated gross debt

By country: Public balance

Ireland: General government total expenditure

By country: Gross fixed capital formation

By country: Current account balance

By country: Exports of goods and services

By country: Imports of goods and services

By country: Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices

By country: Comparative price levels of final consumption by private households including direct taxes

By country: Employment rates by sex

By country: GDP in PPS per hour worked

By country: Unemployment rates by sex

By country: Long-term unemployment rates by sex

By country: Population aged 18-59 living in jobless households

Ireland: Residential Property Price Index

Ireland: New Dwelling Completions

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