NUTS-3 IE051 · Ireland
Population
540,3712025
GDP
€34,782M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
10,203.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
IE051 · DED51
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Mid-West (Opportunity 72). Runner-up: Leipzig, Kreisfreie Stadt (63). Contrarian pick: Leipzig, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 67).
Why you might not pick Mid-West
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Energy cost (EU pctl 1) — Leipzig, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Mid-West leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
72.1
62.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
31.0
53.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.3
49.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
37.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
45.0
63.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
84.0
69.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
90.2
54.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.1% 5y
1.0% 5y
Population
1.6% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.6% 5y
3.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€64,367
€47,745
Population density
53 /km²
2,063 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€33,119M
€26,683M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€902M
€20M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€13,541M
€3,717M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€13,111M
€3,014M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,120M
€1,123M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€6,045M
€6,593M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,700
€24,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
55,200 PPS
43,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€65,100
€48,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€43,613M
€9,129M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€27,811M
€1,577M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€41,142M
€24,874M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,211M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,886M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,687M
€7,752M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,824M
€7,479M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€33,518M
€25,096M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€145,627
€84,108
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€9,048M
€5,994M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
265,730
365,780
Self-employed persons
40,610
26,510
Employment in manufacturing (C)
40,730
28,180
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.0%
80.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.8%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.2%
5.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
288,900
338,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
34,222
22,140
Enterprise births
3,525
2,094
Enterprise deaths
5,075
2,135
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.8%
4.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
2.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
9.1%
6.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
1.2%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
54.8%
39.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
63.4%
47.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
12.9%
12.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
29.7%
27.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
12.0%
9.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.6%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,323,932
3,818,853
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
483 /1k
478 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,081 kt
11,608 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,127
1,660
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
209
271
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
13 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
50
14
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
351,012
409,586
Population aged 65+
92,872
119,846
Population aged under 15
96,487
82,418
Median age of population
40.4 yrs
39.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
26.5%
29.3%
Crude rate of total population change
20.2 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
17.9 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.5 /1k
7.9 /1k
Crude death rate
7.3 /1k
11.1 /1k
Live births
5,097
4,811
Deaths
3,900
6,751
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.9%
49.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.49
1.01
Population density (persons per km²)
53 /km²
2,082 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
626,322
559,911
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.2%
20.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.7 yrs
81.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.7%
17.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
269 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
936 /100k
1,076 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
247 /100k
239 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.6 /100k
92.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
212 /100k
889 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,155 /100k
2,336 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
32 /M
35 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.71
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.50
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.65
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.81
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.212/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.057/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
263 m
116 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
28 days/yr
57 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
2 days/yr