The CSO, through Ireland's Institute for SDGs (IIS), supports reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals.
SDG 17.1.1 Total Government Revenue as a Proportion of GDP
SDG 17.1.2 Proportion of Domestic Budget Funded by Domestic Taxes
SDG 17.2.1 Net Official Development Assistance, Total and to Least Developed Countries, as a Proportion of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development assistance Committee Donors’ Gross National Income (GNI)
SDG 17.3.1 Additional Financial Resources Mobilized for Developing Countries from Multiple Sources
SDG 17.3.2 Volume of Remittances (in United States Dollars) as a Proportion of Total GDP
SDG 17.4.1 Debt Service as a Proportion of Exports of Goods and Services
SDG 17.5.1 Number of Countries that Adopt and Implement Investment Promotion Regimes for Developing Countries
SDG 17.1.1 Total government revenue as a proportion of GDP, by source is published by CSO, National Accounts.
The CSO National Accounts division published the Government Finance Statistics - Annual 2017 to 2022 (April 2023 Results) report.
As reported in the Non-Financial Accounts chapter, general government revenue has rebounded strongly and is well in excess of the pre-pandemic level. The rise in revenue is largely due to increases in taxes and social contributions which make up 94% of total revenues.
Total revenue of general government grew by €16.6 billion (16.8%) to stand at a record high of €115.5 billion in 2022.
Total government revenue as a proportion of GDP dropped from 25.9% in 2017 to 22.3% in 2020, and rose to 23.2% in 2021, and 23% in 2022. See Table 4.1 and Figure 4.1.
| Total Revenue | |
| 2017 | 25.9 |
| 2018 | 25.5 |
| 2019 | 24.7 |
| 2020 | 22.3 |
| 2021 | 23.2 |
| 2022 | 23 |
SDG 17.1.2 Proportion of domestic budget funded by domestic taxes is calculated using CSO, National Accounts data. Regional level data is provided by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
The central and local government expenditures and taxes are included in the CSO, National Accounts report - Government Finance Statistics - Annual 2017 to 2022 (April 2023 Results). General government revenue has rebounded strongly and is well in excess of the pre-pandemic level.
As reported in the Non-Financial Accounts chapter, central government expenditure increased from €65.7 billion in 2017 to €91.3 billion in 2022, while taxes showed a general upward trend (apart from a slight dip in 2020) from €54.3 billion to €87.5 billion over the same period. See Table 4.2 and Table 4.4.
Local government expenditure increased from €6.2 billion in 2017 to €10.2 billion in 2022. Taxes have recovered from €0.7 billion in 2020, increasing to €1.4 billion in 2022. See Table 4.3.
The proportion of domestic budget funded by domestic taxes by central government was 95.8% in 2022, up from 82.5% in 2021. The corresponding figure for local government was 14.2% in 2022, up from 11.7% in 2021. See Table 4.4.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) publish the Local Authority Budget annual reports.
The Local Authority Budgets 2022 annual report contains information which has been compiled by the DHLGH from the statutory revenue budgets adopted by each local authority for 2022.
According to this report, the Local Authority Budgeted Revenue Income 2022 was €6.1 billion. Commercial rates were €1.7 billion. This resulted in commercial rates being 28% of total income in 2022. See Table 4.5.
Fingal County Council was the local authority with the highest commercial rates as a percentage of total income at 51.1%. See Table 4.5 and Map 4.1.
Note that the income for both Limerick City and Limerick County are distorted by their operation of the housing assistance payment (HAP) shared service and associated income of €749 million in 2022. Excluding HAP shared service income of €749,233,080, Limerick's equivalent percentage of commercial rates income was 29.7% in 2022.
SDG 17.2.1 Net official development assistance, total and to least developed countries, as a proportion of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee donors’ gross national income (GNI) is published by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
A press release on 12th April 2023, on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) website states that:
"The Development Assistance Committee of the OECD has today released the preliminary Official Development Assistance (ODA) statistics for 2022. They confirm that Ireland’s total ODA increased to €2.33 billion, representing 0.64% of GNP.
The figures include eligible first-year costs associated with the provision of services for Ukrainian refugees in Ireland. Ireland did not source any of these costs from the government’s allocation for ODA in 2022. Excluding the costs relating to Ukrainian refugees, the figure for Ireland’s 2022 ODA is €1.446 billion, representing 0.4% of GNP. This is an increase on the 0.3% of GNP achieved in 2021, as a result of an increase in the allocation for ODA, costs for the increased number of people seeking international protection in Ireland, not from Ukraine, and an increase in Ireland’s share of the EU development cooperation budget.
This OECD press release is available at: Foreign aid surges due to spending on refugees and aid for Ukraine - OECD".
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) publishes Ireland’s development assistance annual reports. Information from the latest government of Ireland Official Development Assistance Annual Report 2021 is provided here in relation to SDG 17.2.1.
In 2021, the Irish government invested more than €976 million in official development assistance (ODA). The majority of this funding (€569 million) was overseen and managed by the DFA through the government’s international development programme, which is known as Irish Aid. The remaining €407 million was managed by other departments, including finance; health; and agriculture, food and the marine. This last mentioned figure includes Ireland’s contribution to the EU Development Cooperation budget, as well as assessed and voluntary contributions to international organisations whose primary relationship is with other government departments. See Table 4.6.
Ethiopia received the highest amount of funding from Ireland, almost €40.6 million. See Table 4.7 and Map 4.2.
Note:
Map 4.2 was compiled by the CSO, SDG division using Department of Foreign Affairs data.
West Bank and Gaza Strip are not shown on the interactive Map 4.2.
The OECD published the OECD Development Co-operation Peer Reviews Ireland 2020 report on Ireland's aid.
The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts periodic reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts of DAC members. The policies and programmes of each member are critically examined approximately once every five to six years, with five members reviewed annually.
A summary of the OECD report was included in our Goal 10 publication under SDG 10.b.1.
SDG 17.3.1 Additional financial resources mobilized for developing countries from multiple sources - information is from a number of sources including CSO, Balance of Payments, Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The UN SDG Indicators Database defines SDG 17.3.1 metadata as:
"Annual gross receipts by developing countries of a) Official sustainable development grants; b) Official concessional sustainable development loans; c) Official non-concessional sustainable development loans; d) Foreign direct investment; e) Mobilised private finance (MPF) on an experimental basis; and f) Private grants."
Table 9.1 under SDG 17.17.1 shows the EU financing to developing countries by financing source, 2015-2021. The data shows the total official and private EU financing to developing countries. A breakdown of official development assistance (ODA) and grants by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is provided for Ireland.
Data for Ireland is published under the 'Development' topic on the OECD website.
The CSO, Balance of Payments division publish information on foreign direct investment. Information published here is from the CSO’s Foreign Direct Investment Annual 2021 report.
Key findings from this report include:
The increase in foreign direct investment in Ireland is largely attributed to increased investment from the US which was offset by decreased investment from other countries. This increase in investment is seen almost entirely in the services sector, predominantly in financial intermediation. Meanwhile, Irish foreign direct investment abroad increased by €296 billion to €1,288 billion, with investment in Europe increasing by €181 billion and investment in the US increasing by €77 billion. This increase is also seen almost entirely in the services sector, mainly with Europe. See Table 4.8 and Figure 4.1.
| Inward | Outward | |
| 2020 | 1098.89 | 992.25 |
| 2021 | 1208.22 | 1288.48 |
Irish stocks of direct investment abroad increased to €1,288 billion at the end of 2021 from a stock position of €992 billion at the end of 2020.
The stock of direct investment abroad at the end of 2021 comprised of equity capital and reinvested earnings of €1,396 billion and the withdrawal of other capital of -€1,08 billion. The decrease in other capital positions (-€53 billion) was offset by an increase in equity capital and reinvested earnings (€349 billion). The decrease in other capital positions was mostly attributable to the withdrawal of investment from Luxembourg and the Americas of €27 billion and €10 billion respectively. The increase in equity capital and reinvested earnings positions was attributed to increased investment in Europe of €210 billion and in the Americas of €95 billion. For the data breakdowns, See Table 4.9 and Map 4.3.
The stock of direct investment in Ireland increased between the end of 2020 and end of 2021 - from €1,099 billion to €1,208 billion. Increased investment from the US of €179 billion was offset by a decrease in investment from Europe and offshore centres of €46 billion and €79 billion respectively. See Table 4.10 and Map 4.4.
Ireland had net foreign assets of €80 billion at the end of 2021, an increase of €187 billion on the net foreign liability of €107 billion at the end 2020.
SDG 17.3.2 Volume of remittances (in United States Dollars) as a proportion of total GDP is calculated using data from the CSO, National Accounts and Eurostat.
The UN SDG Indicators Database defines SDG 17.3.2 metadata as:
"Personal remittances received as proportion of GDP is the inflow of personal remittances expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)."
Eurostat published data for workers remittances and compensation of employees for Ireland showed a value of around €1.6 billion in both 2020 and 2021. The volume of remittances as a proportion of total GDP was calculated as 0.38% in 2021, down from 0.44% in 2020. See Table 4.11 or visit PxStat Table NA007.
SDG 17.4.1 Debt service as a proportion of exports of goods and services is published by CSO, National Accounts.
The UN SDG Indicators Database defines SDG 17.4.1 metadata as:
"Debt service as proportion of exports of goods and services is the percentage of debt services (principle and interest payments) to the exports of goods and services. Debt services covered in this indicator refer only to public and publicly guaranteed debt."
The CSO National Accounts division publish the debt service figures as open data in PxStat Table GFA01 under item 'General Government Transactions - Expenditure - Interest (Excluding FISIM) - ESA2010 Code (D41)'.
Exports of goods and services at current market prices are available in Table 4.2 of the recently published Q4 2022 Quarterly National Accounts (QNA) and Year 2022.
Debt service as a proportion of exports of goods and services is calculated by dividing the debt service figure by the value of exports. The proportion of debt service decreased steadily from 1.6% in 2017 to 0.5% in 2022. See Table 4.12.
SDG 17.5.1 Number of countries that adopt and implement investment promotion regimes for developing countries, including the least developed countries is published by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The UN SDG Indicators Database defines SDG 17.5.1 metadata as:
"The number of countries that have adopted and implemented investment promotion regimes for developing countries, including least developed countries (LDCs)."
Irish Aid is the government’s official aid programme administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), working on behalf of the Irish people to address poverty and hunger in some of the poorest countries in the world.
One World, One Future is Ireland's Policy for International Development.
The vision of this policy is to achieve a sustainable and just world, where people are empowered to overcome poverty and hunger and fully realise their rights and potential.
The values include:
