Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 9.7% in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2025 (See Editor’s Note below).
Multinational-dominated sectors grew by 12.4% in Q1 2025 with Domestic Sectors increasing by 0.7%.
Total Exports expanded by 9.4% in the first three months of 2025 (+€18.2 billion), with Goods Exports increasing by 14.8% (+€13.5 billion).
Modified Domestic Demand (MDD), a broad measure of underlying domestic activity that covers personal, government, and investment spending, grew by 0.8% in Q1 2025.
Personal spending on goods and services, a key measure of domestic economic activity, grew by 0.6% in Q1 2025.
The updated estimated GDP figure for Q1 2025 is +9.7%. This compares with a Preliminary GDP Estimate for Q1 2025 of +3.2% published on 29 April 2025. A key reason for the revision is that the updated GDP estimate for Q1 2025 of +9.7% includes additional company survey data. Preliminary estimates are published under the CSO Frontier Series which may use new compilation processes which are under development and/or new or more timely data sources and therefore the results may be subject to revision over time. Publishing outputs under the Preliminary Estimate allows the CSO to provide useful new information to users and receive informed feedback on these new methods and outputs whilst at the same time making sure that the limitations are well explained and understood. A list of our CSO Frontier Outputs is available.
The Q1 2025 Quarterly National Accounts (QNA) and International Accounts (IA) figures published today are provisional and final figures for GDP, GNP, Modified Domestic Demand, and the Current Account Balance will be published as part of the Q1 2025 Final QNA and IA results to be issued in tandem with the Annual National Accounts 2024 results (ANA 2024) later in the year.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (05 June 2025) published Quarterly National Accounts and International Accounts results for Quarter 1 (Q1) 2025, following on from the Preliminary GDP Estimates for Q1 2025 issued on 29 April 2025 as a CSO Frontier Series output (See Editor’s Note below).
Summary Results
Assistant Director General with responsibility for National Accounts & Price Statistics, Chris Sibley, said:
"In today’s results, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 9.7% in January, February, and March (Q1) 2025 driven by significant growth in exports of goods.
The globalised Industry sector expanded by 17.1% in Q1 2025 compared with Q4 2024 while the Information & Communication sector posted an increase of 3.8% over the same period. Overall, the multinational-dominated sector rose by 12.4% in the quarter.
There was continued growth in the domestic economy in Q1 2025 with Modified Domestic Demand (MDD) growing by 0.8% in the quarter. This was reflected in personal spending increasing by 0.6% and growth in wages of 0.9% over the same period.”
Domestic Economy
Looking at the results in more detail, Gordon Cavanagh, National Accounts Statistician, said:
“The sectors focused on the domestic market posted a combined increase in activity of 0.7% in the quarter. There were notable increases for the Financial & Insurance and Construction sectors which rose by 9.4% and 6.7% respectively in Q1 2025, compared with Q4 2024. Growth was recorded for every sector except for Real Estate Activities which declined by 1.0% in the quarter.
Expenditure in the Economy
Looking at expenditure in the economy, net exports increased by 12.4% in the quarter largely driven by a significant increase in goods exports to the Extra-EU area. Investment in capital formation rose by 41.1% or €10.3bn compared with the previous quarter. This reflects higher levels of investment in Intangible Assets. Personal spending on goods and services (the PCE indicator) increased by 0.6% in the quarter, while Government spending on goods and services rose by 0.7% over the same period.
Impact of Globalisation Activities and the Indicators of Underlying Domestic Activity
Final Domestic Demand (FDD), a measure of personal, government, and investment spending, increased by 14.1% in Q1 2025. This reflects higher levels of investment in Intangible Assets compared with the previous quarter. Modified Domestic Demand, a broad measure of underlying domestic demand that excludes Intellectual Property Products (IPP) and aircraft-related globalisation effects, increased by 0.8% in the quarter.
Compensation of Employees
Compensation of Employees (CoE) increased in real terms by 0.9% in Q1 2025 compared with Q4 2024. There was a mixed picture across sectors with the largest increases seen in Information & Communication (+22.4%), Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (+10.4%) and Real Estate Activities (+5.5%). Many sectors saw declines including Industry (-2.5%), Construction (-2.4%) and Distribution, Transport, Hotels & Restaurants (-2.5%).
GDP and GNP results
Overall, GDP is estimated to have grown by 9.7% in the quarter, driven significantly by a rise of 9.4% in Exports that outpaced the increase in Imports of 8.0%. Gross National Product (GNP), a measure of economic activity that excludes the profits of multinationals, decreased by 2.1% in the quarter, reflecting a significant increase in factor income outflows which rose by 36.1%.”