Country profile · Europe & Central Asia · High income

Ireland

Every figure below carries its global rank and its history — and a plain line on what the number means. Figures: World Bank, World Development Indicators (open data), retrieved 2026-07-27.

At a glance

Latest available year per indicator

GDP · 2025

$721.7 bn

23rd largest of 214

The size of the economy — everything produced in a year. The headline number every other figure argues with.

GDP growth · 2025

12.3%

4th fastest-growing of 214

How fast output is expanding, inflation-adjusted. Growth without jobs or wages is where the story usually hides.

GDP per capita · 2025

$131,592

5th highest of 214

Output per person — the rough proxy for average living standards, and an average that hides a lot.

Inflation (CPI) · 2025

2.2%

124th highest of 193

How fast consumer prices rise. What it understates for poorer households is half the story.

Unemployment · 2025

4.6%

110th highest of 187

The share of the labour force seeking work without finding it — and it counts precarious work as 'employed'.

Population · 2025

5.5 mn

121st largest of 217

The denominator of everything per-capita.

Exports · 2025

140.1%

5th highest of 193

How much of the economy is sold to the world — openness, measured on the way out.

Imports · 2025

99.9%

10th highest of 193

How much of demand is met from abroad — openness, measured on the way in.

FDI, net inflows · 2024

0.8%

154th highest of 202

Long-term foreign investment into real assets — a confidence signal that is hard to fake and slow to reverse.

Total reserves · 2025

$13.7 bn

75th largest of 179

The central bank's war chest for defending the currency and paying for imports.

Current account · 2024

17.4%

7th highest of 200

The broadest external balance — trade plus income and remittances. Persistent deficits must be financed.

Government debt

No recent data reported

What the state owes relative to the economy carrying it. Reported patchily — gaps here are common.

Exchange rate · 2025

0.9

191st highest of 213

How many units of local currency a dollar buys — a running vote of confidence.

Gini index · 2023

29.0

147th most unequal of 171

Inequality in one number: 0 is perfect equality, 100 is one person holding everything. Surveyed rarely.

Life expectancy · 2024

83.0

23rd highest of 217

The single most honest summary of whether an economy serves its people.

Extreme poverty · 2023

0.1%

148th highest of 171

The share of people living below the international extreme-poverty line — the floor beneath every other economic statistic.

What these indicators can — and cannot — tell you: Economics, Explained

The long view

1990 – latest

GDPcurrent US$
0200bn400bn600bn19901995200020052010201520202025
GDP per capitacurrent US$
020k40k60k80k100k120k19901995200020052010201520202025
GDP growthannual %
-50510152019901995200020052010201520202025
Inflation (CPI)annual %
-4-2024619901995200020052010201520202025

Put Ireland next to any other economy — open the comparison desk — or see where it sits on the world heat map.