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Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics 2020

Turnover for Irish-owned foreign affiliates down 7% in 2020

Online ISSN: 2009-6593
CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • Turnover of €238bn for Irish-owned foreign affiliates in 2020 was down 7% compared with 2019.

  • The United States generated more than 39% of Irish-owned foreign affiliate turnover, while almost 17% was generated from the United Kingdom.

  • Irish-owned foreign affiliates employed more than 1.2 million people in 2020, almost a 3% increase compared with 2019.

  • Almost 22% of persons employed by Irish-owned foreign affiliates were in the United States and almost 10% were in the United Kingdom.

  • The Services sector (excluding Distribution) accounted for the highest turnover and employment in Irish-owned foreign affiliates in 2020.

Statistician's Comment

Commenting on the release, Devin Zibulsky, Statistician in the Business Statistics Division, said: “Irish-owned foreign affiliates reported a lower overall turnover in 2020 than in the three previous years. Turnover of €238bn was down 7% when compared with €256bn recorded in 2019Many enterprises were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including multinationals. Yet, the total number of persons employed in 2020 was slightly higher than the previous year. There were more than 1.2 million people employed by Irish multinationals abroad, an increase of almost 3% when compared with 2019.

The Services sector (excluding Distribution) was the dominant sector for employment in Irish affiliates abroad in 2020 with more than 56% of total persons engaged, and also had the highest turnover for Irish-owned foreign affiliates with almost 34% or €80bn of total turnover generated.

In the most recent EU27-wide data from 2019, Irish-owned affiliates generated 3.6% of turnover among affiliates located outside of the EU and represented 6.1% of persons employed, which both represent large proportions of the total relative to the population of the state*".

*Note that Eurostat did not include the UK in the outside-EU figures to maintain trend with previous years.

Editor's Note

Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics (OFATS) covers the activities of Irish multinationals abroad. The purpose of the survey is to allow analysis of the sectoral and geographical composition of the affiliates controlled by Irish multinationals. Care should be taken when analysing the OFATS as the register of Irish multinationals abroad can be subject to significant change in the short term.

An enterprise is deemed to be Irish owned if more than 50% of its controlling interest is in Ireland. The population of foreign affiliates is subject to fluctuation based on international market conditions and the buying and selling of affiliates by Irish multinationals. Any enterprise that redomiciles their controlling operations to Ireland will have a bearing on the results, provided the above criteria are satisfied, as it would from that point be considered an Irish enterprise.

Please click the following link to access details of the methodology used:

Compiling Foreign Affiliates Statistics OFATS 2020

Number of persons engaged and turnover in Irish-owned foreign affiliates, 2018 - 2020
 Number of persons engaged Breakdown (%) Turnover (€millions) Breakdown (%)
 201820192020 2020 201820192020 2020
United States233,236263,009259,000 21.6% 94,329101,90392,951 39.1%
United Kingdom120,631125,476116,955 9.7% 44,96542,73039,387 16.6%
Germany36,03334,32430,523 2.5% 12,22710,5839,103 3.8%
France27,80828,63826,243 2.2% 9,70010,2839,567 4.0%
Netherlands20,11916,57816,265 1.4% 7,3316,3476,955 2.9%
Other countries647,184700,708751,356 62.6% 81,33383,84079,709 33.5%
All countries1,085,0111,168,7331,200,342 100.0% 249,885255,686237,672 100.0%

Tables and Graphs

Over 1.2 million persons employed in Irish multinationals abroad

Of the 1.2 million persons employed in Irish multinationals abroad in 2020, almost a third (31.3%) were in the United States or the United Kingdom. Irish affiliates in Germany, France, and the Netherlands together accounted for 6.1% of persons employed in Irish multinationals abroad in 2020. See Figure 1, Headline Table & Table 1.

Irish multinationals abroad had turnover of almost €238bn in 2020, with affiliates in the United States (€93.0bn) and the United Kingdom (€39.4bn) accounting for 55.7% of this. Irish affiliates in Germany, France, and the Netherlands together accounted for 10.8% (€25.6bn) of turnover. See Figure 2, Headline Table & Table 2.

Asia had the highest number of persons employed in Irish multinationals abroad

In terms of employment in Irish multinationals abroad by continent in 2020, Asia (401,786), the Americas (400,732), and Europe (including Russia) (373,759) each accounted for around a third of total persons engaged. Employment in the Oceania and Polar regions and Africa combined accounted for the remaining 2.0%. See Figure 3.

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Persons engaged
United
States
21.6
United
Kingdom
9.7
Germany2.5
Other
countries
62.6
Netherlands1.4
France2.2
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Turnover
United
States
39.1
United
Kingdom
16.6
Germany3.8
Other
countries
33.5
Netherlands2.9
France4

China and Spain show highest percentage growth of employment in Irish affiliates

Between 2019 and 2020, Irish affiliates in China had an increase of 16.5% in persons engaged, while turnover decreased by 17.1%. Spain had the second largest increase in persons engaged at 9.5% and saw a decrease of 12.2% in turnover.

Aside from the United Kingdom and the United States, a number of other countries had a significant contribution to the employment numbers in 2020. The number of people employed in 2020 in Irish affiliates in China was more than 45,000, while it was more than 30,500 in Germany, almost 29,100 in Spain and almost 28,100 in Brazil. Employment levels rose in just four countries selected in Figure 4.

In terms of turnover, affiliates in France and Germany accounted for more than €9bn each, while Japan accounted for over €7.2bn. The Netherlands was the only country (from those selected in Figure 5) where affiliates showed a growth in turnover (+9.6%) between 2019 and 2020. See Figures 4 & 5 and Tables 1 & 2.

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Persons engaged
Europe
(excluding
Russia)
370055
Russian
Federation
3704
Americas400732
Asia401786
Oceania and
Polar regions
12690
Africa11375
X-axis label201820192020
China394273863745012
Germany360333432430523
Spain237772656129079
Brazil263192990028064
France278082863826243
Italy205032688824895
Japan168132105022982
Poland189512096722090
Canada167202110320894
Netherlands201191657816265
X-axis label201820192020
France9.710.2839.567
Germany12.22710.5839.103
Japan6.3067.2527.225
Netherlands7.3316.3476.955
Canada5.6916.2225.852
Spain5.2325.3994.738
Italy4.0564.9874.56
China4.7445.0124.155
Poland3.2893.5482.693
Brazil3.3423.1142.631

Services sector had highest employment and turnover abroad in Irish multinationals

Services, which excludes Distribution, was the dominant sector for employment in Irish affiliates abroad in 2020 with 56.1% of total persons engaged. Manufacturing affiliates accounted for 26.1% of total foreign affiliate employment, while Distribution and Other sectors employed 15.5% and 2.3% respectively. See Figure 6 and Table 3.

The Services sector (excluding Distribution) was also the sector with the highest turnover for Irish-owned foreign affiliates in 2020 with 33.6% of total turnover generated. Distribution affiliates generated 31.7% of total foreign affiliate turnover, while Manufacturing and Other sectors generated 26.1% and 8.6% respectively. See Figure 7 and Table 4.

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Persons engaged
Services56.1
Distribution15.5
Other2.3
Manufacturing26.1
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Persons engaged
Services33.6
Distribution31.7
Other8.6
Manufacturing26.1
Open in Excel:

European multinational employment outside EU in 2019 dominated by affiliates of France and Germany

Almost 825,000 persons were engaged in Irish-owned foreign affiliates outside the EU in 2019 (latest EU data available), representing 6.1% of the 13.6 million persons employed by European multinationals outside the EU. EU multinationals making the largest contribution to employment were French-owned foreign affiliates at 31.3%, German-owned foreign affiliates at 24.4%, and Italian-owned foreign affiliates at 7.5%. See Figure 8.

In 2019, turnover of Irish-owned foreign affiliates outside the EU was almost €154 billion, representing 3.6% of the €4,255 billion turnover of European multinationals outside the EU. The largest contributors to turnover were German-owned foreign affiliates at 32.2%, French-owned foreign affiliates at 22.4%, followed by Dutch-owned foreign affiliates at 15.7%. See Figure 9.

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% Employment
Irish6.1
Dutch6.1
Italian7.5
Other24.6
German24.4
French31.3
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% Employment
Irish3.6
Dutch15.7
Italian6.8
Other19.4
German32.2
French22.4
Table 1 Persons engaged in Irish-owned foreign affiliates by country, 2018 - 2020

Table 2 Turnover in Irish-owned foreign affiliates by country, 2018 - 2020

Table 3 Persons engaged in Irish-owned foreign affiliates by sector, 2014 - 2020

Table 4 Turnover in Irish-owned foreign affiliates by sector, 2014 - 2020