In 2024, median house prices in Dublin were more than 13 times the median gross annual salary of all employees. In Belfast, median house prices were 6 times the median gross annual salary.
In 2023, disposable household income per person in Ireland was 21,488 in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS) and in Northern Ireland it was 18,998 PPS. Northern Ireland ranked behind the Eastern & Midland (22,264 PPS), Southern (21,279 PPS), and Northern & Western (19,721 PPS) regions of Ireland.
Social benefits per capita were higher in Northern Ireland in 2023 at 5,645 PPS than in Ireland at 5,056 PPS.
In 2023, Modified Gross National Income (GNI*), a deglobalised measure of Ireland’s economic performance, was 46,428 PPS per person, while Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person in Northern Ireland was 31,144 PPS.
Manufacturing was the largest sector in Ireland in 2023 as it accounted for 31% of its total Gross Value Added (GVA). In Northern Ireland, Public Administration, Education & Health was the largest at 24% of its total GVA.
This CSO release is part of a new all-island statistical series to implement the Programme for Government (PfG) commitment to develop a North-South statistical series to provide comparable data on social and economic measures across both jurisdictions.
Further releases in the statistical series will focus on a broad range of issues potentially including Trade; Labour Market and Cross-Border Working; Tourism; Education; Health; Housing; Disabilities; Crime; and Gender-Based Violence.
The CSO is progressing this series as part of the Government’s Shared Island initiative in consultation with Northern Ireland and UK counterparts.
The Purchasing Power Standard (PPS) is an artificial common reference currency unit used primarily by Eurostat to eliminate price level differences between countries. One PPS can theoretically buy the same amount of goods and services in every country, enabling fair comparisons of economic volume, GDP, and living standards.
The Median is the middle value in an ordered dataset, separating the top 50% from the bottom 50%. It acts as a measure of central tendency that is not skewed by exceptionally high or low values, making it ideal for reporting accurate income or house price data.
The CSO would like to acknowledge the work of Jack O'Connell, who worked with the National Accounts team on this project as part of the CSO’s Graduate Programme. We wish to extend our appreciation and thanks to him for contributing to the analysis and production of this release.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (03 June 2026) published Ireland and Northern Ireland – A Regional Economic Comparison 2023 - 2024.
Commenting on the release, Aoife Crowe, Statistician in the National Accounts Analysis and Globalisation Division of the CSO, said: “This release combines economic data from both Ireland and Northern Ireland into a single publication and brings together data on employment and earnings, and on the national and regional accounts from Ireland and Northern Ireland. This allows for a comparison of the two regions to be made and provides insights into the evolution of the two economies over time. It explores key areas such as Gross Value Added (GVA) and employment by economic sector, household disposable income, house prices, and productivity. It contains a particular focus on the regions connecting Dublin and Belfast, forming what is called the Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor.
Disposable Income Ireland and Northern Ireland
In 2023, all NUTS 2 regions in Ireland had a higher disposable income per person than Northern Ireland. Disposable income per person was highest in the Eastern & Midland region (Dublin, Kildare Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, and Wicklow), followed by the Southern region (Carlow, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, and Wexford), Northern & Western region (Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon, and Sligo) and then Northern Ireland. Within the Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor, Dublin recorded the highest disposable income per person at 24,006 in Purchasing Power Standards (PPS), followed by Lisburn & Castlereagh at 20,978 PPS and Kildare at 20,910 PPS. PPS is an artificial common reference currency unit used to eliminate price level differences between countries (See Editor’s Note).
In 2023, 30% of Northern Ireland’s disposable income came from social benefits, while in Ireland it was 24%. Social benefits per person were 5,645 PPS in Northern Ireland and 5,056 PPS in Ireland. Across the island, social benefits per person were lowest in Dublin (4,435 PPS), and highest in Ards & North Down (6,687 PPS).
Median House Price Ireland and Northern Ireland
In 2024, the median price of a house in Dublin was 13 times the median annual salary, while in Belfast it was 6 times the median annual salary of all employees. Since 2014, the ratio of median house price to median annual earnings stayed relatively constant in Northern Ireland, however house prices significantly outpaced earnings in Ireland. In 2014, while the median price of a house in Louth was 5 times the median annual salary, by 2024 the median price had grown to almost 11 times median earnings. By comparison, in Newry, Mourne & Down the ratio of house price to earnings stayed relatively constant at around 9 times the median salary from 2014 to 2024.
Gross Value Added (GVA)
In 2023, GVA per person was higher in Ireland at 79,541 PPS than in Northern Ireland at 27,637 PPS. The Eastern & Midland (91,660 PPS) region had the highest GVA per person overall, followed by the Southern (83,634 PPS) region, the Northern & Western (38,099 PPS) region and Northern Ireland (27,637 PPS). Significant contributions to Ireland’s GVA came from foreign-owned, multinational dominated sectors such as Manufacturing and Information & Communication. However, Northern Ireland was more reliant on the Public Administration, Education & Health sector to generate value. Modified Gross National Income (GNI*) is a bespoke measure developed by the CSO to strip out large globalisation effects associated with the Irish economy. In 2023, GNI* per person was 46,428 PPS in Ireland while GDP per person in Northern Ireland was 31,144 PPS."