NUTS-3 IE041 · Ireland
Border
Border generates €14bn of GDP across 441.9k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 58.1/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic growth and economic scale. Its economy has grown +6.7%/yr over five years and cooling, with the employment rate up 6.7pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for health (78th EU percentile) and weakest for digital connectivity (27th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable32 → 40 EU percentile since 1995 (+8 ranks)
Yearly EU-wide percentile of real GDP per head (ARDECO regional accounts, constant 2020 prices, derived over population). 50 = the EU median that year; percentiles are scale-free, so decades are directly comparable. See the backtest for what long-run prosperity ranks do — and don't — anticipate.
Mandate pillar profile · EU percentiles (screener dimensions)
Demographic outlook94
Governance90
Talent & skills82
Growth momentum81
Industrial base57
Quality of life52
Labour market51
Resilience50
Freight intensity44
Cost advantage39
Economic base30
Connectivity27
Digital readiness19
Energy cost1
Each bar is this region's EU percentile on a screener pillar (higher = better for siting; cost & energy are inverted so cheap scores high). These are the exact weights you tune in the Site Screener.
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
58.1
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth81.2
Livability52
Market access26
Economic scale73
Equal-weighted mean of four EU-percentile pillars (deliberately orthogonal: growth=trend, livability=quality, market=distance-weighted demand proxy, scale=absolute GDP). Experimental — a screening triage, not investment advice.
Resilience Index · downside / risk lens (experimental)
50
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability7
Labour stability11
Diversification85
Demographic stability97
Inverse of GDP-growth & unemployment volatility (since 2008, incl. 2009/2020 shocks), economic diversification (inverse HHI) and population stability — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher withstands downturns better. Experimental.
Connectivity Index · transit · air · market access (experimental)
27
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density35
Airport access20
Market access26
Public-transport stop density, proximity to a major airport, and gravity access to surrounding economic mass — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = better-connected. Experimental.
Talent & Human Capital Index · skills base (experimental)
81.5
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary96
Lifelong learning65
Knowledge workers77
Scientists & engineers88
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
52
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy45.5
Jobs47.5
Education71
Health78
Safety42.7
Connectivity27
Environment52
Equal-weighted percentile across 6 pillars vs all EU NUTS-3; lower-is-better indicators (crime, unemployment, mortality) inverted. Experimental — regional screening only.
Growth momentum · trend analytics
81.2
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+6.7%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+7.2%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-0.5 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-1.4 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+1.4%
CAGR
Employment rate
+6.7 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-0.2 pp
5-yr change
Compound annual growth to the latest available year vs all EU NUTS-3; GDP is nominal EUR (“vs country avg” removes most national inflation). Screening signal, not a forecast.
Economic structure · gross value added by sector
Dominant: Public · health · education · 25.8%Diversified · HHI 2033
Agriculture 4.6%Industry 21.3%Construction 7.4%Trade · transport · ICT 20.7%Finance · real estate · prof. 20.3%Public · health · education 25.8%
Share of total GVA (latest year). HHI = sum of squared sector shares ×10,000; higher means a more concentrated, single-sector-dependent economy (more cyclicality risk).
Trends · 2009–2024
GDP (current prices)
€14,341M2024
3.4% 1y 6.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 73
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€13,543M2025
12.4% 1y 6.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 76
Population
441,9402025
0.1% 1y 1.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 73
Unemployment rate
4.8%2025
33.3% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 57
Employment
189,4102024
0.0% 1y 2.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 71
Productivity / employee
€84,2362025
11.3% 1y 5.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 51
Gross value added
€13,655M2024
3.5% 1y 6.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 74
All indicators · 88 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€13,655M
2024 · EU pctl 74
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€626M
2024 · EU pctl 92
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,911M
2024 · EU pctl 71
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,585M
2024 · EU pctl 75
GVA — construction (F)
€1,006M
2024 · EU pctl 79
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,821M
2024 · EU pctl 74
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€26,200
2023 · EU pctl 61 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,600 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 30
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,600
2024 · EU pctl 44
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€7,935M
2023 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€2,209M
2023 · EU pctl 48 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€18,607M
2023 · EU pctl 29 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€913M
2024 · EU pctl 49
GVA — information & communication (J)
€449M
2024 · EU pctl 73
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,774M
2024 · EU pctl 72
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,518M
2024 · EU pctl 78
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€13,543M
2025 · EU pctl 76
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,236
2025 · EU pctl 51
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,754M
2025 · EU pctl 68
Labour market
Employment, total persons
189,410
2024 · EU pctl 71
Self-employed persons
32,660
2024 · EU pctl 73
Employment in manufacturing (C)
22,230
2024 · EU pctl 60
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
77.5%
2025 · EU pctl 49 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
13.4%
2025 · EU pctl 46 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.8%
2025 · EU pctl 57
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
228,300
2025 · EU pctl 75
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
29,728
2023 · EU pctl 73
Enterprise births
3,186
2023 · EU pctl 75
Enterprise deaths
3,596
2023 · EU pctl 81
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.7%
2023 · EU pctl 58
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.4%
2023 · EU pctl 45 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
6.3%
2025 · EU pctl 81 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
2.5%
2023 · EU pctl 89 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
53.2%
2025 · EU pctl 97 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
61.2%
2025 · EU pctl 96 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
13.0%
2025 · EU pctl 65 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
27.7%
2025 · EU pctl 77 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
11.9%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
92.8%
2025 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
6,562,299
2024 · EU pctl 91
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
458 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,028
CURRENT · EU pctl 55
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,538 kt
2025 · EU pctl 69
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
5 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 14 · NUTS-2 src
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
233
CURRENT · EU pctl 35
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
90
CURRENT · EU pctl 80
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
CURRENT · EU pctl 15
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
276,032
2025 · EU pctl 73
Population aged 65+
77,493
2025 · EU pctl 64
Population aged under 15
88,415
2025 · EU pctl 83
Median age of population
40.7 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 6
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
28.1%
2025 · EU pctl 8
Crude rate of total population change
0.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 49
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-1.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 6
Crude birth rate
9.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 94
Crude death rate
7.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 3
Live births
4,303
2024 · EU pctl 81
Deaths
3,189
2024 · EU pctl 53
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.1%
2025 · EU pctl 57
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.73
2024 · EU pctl 96
Population density (persons per km²)
39 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 12
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
591,057
2100 · EU pctl 85
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
276 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 14 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
885 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 23 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
239 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 65 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 65
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
5.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 10
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
125 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 28
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
512 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 32
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
58 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 75 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.71
2022 · EU pctl 53
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
2022 · EU pctl 97
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.50
2022 · EU pctl 53
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.65
2022 · EU pctl 56
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.81
2022 · EU pctl 89
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.212/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 99
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.057/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 89
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
99 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 28
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 0
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
27 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 19
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
9 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 82
Environment
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
12
2024 · EU pctl 48
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
53
2024 · EU pctl 47
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
247 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 96
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
1.4%
2021 · EU pctl 29
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Ireland regions