NUTS-3 IE042 · Ireland
West
West generates €31bn of GDP across 517k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 67.5/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by economic scale and economic growth. Its economy has grown +11.8%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 6.7pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for health (78th EU percentile) and weakest for digital connectivity (27.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Long-run riser40 → 90 EU percentile since 1995 (+50 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)
Industrial base96
Economic base90
Governance90
Demographic outlook88
Growth momentum86
Talent & skills82
Quality of life58
Labour market51
Connectivity50
Cost advantage39
Freight intensity33
Resilience31
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)
67.5
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth86
Livability57.8
Market access36
Economic scale90
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)
31
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability3
Labour stability11
Diversification11
Demographic stability99
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)
49.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density36
Airport access77
Market access36
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)
57.8
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy75.5
Jobs47.5
Education71
Health78
Safety54.3
Connectivity27.5
Environment51
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
86
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+11.8%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+8.2%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+3.5 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+3.7 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+1.9%
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: Industry · 41.5%Moderately concentrated · HHI 2689
Agriculture 1.3%Industry 41.5%Construction 4.1%Trade · transport · ICT 20%Finance · real estate · prof. 16.3%Public · health · education 16.9%
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)
€30,592M2024
0.2% 1y 11.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 90
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€28,890M2025
12.4% 1y 6.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 90
Population
516,9852025
2.6% 1y 1.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 78
Unemployment rate
4.7%2025
0.0% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 55
Employment
250,0202024
1.7% 1y 3.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 81
Productivity / employee
€136,1352025
11.3% 1y 6.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 96
Gross value added
€29,129M2024
0.2% 1y 12.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 90
All indicators · 88 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€29,129M
2024 · EU pctl 90
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€380M
2024 · EU pctl 80
GVA — industry (B–E)
€12,088M
2024 · EU pctl 97
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€11,219M
2024 · EU pctl 98
GVA — construction (F)
€1,193M
2024 · EU pctl 84
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,822M
2024 · EU pctl 88
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)
50,700 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 90
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€59,900
2024 · EU pctl 92
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)
€1,757M
2024 · EU pctl 72
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,486M
2024 · EU pctl 86
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,736M
2024 · EU pctl 82
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,911M
2024 · EU pctl 86
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€28,890M
2025 · EU pctl 90
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€136,135
2025 · EU pctl 96
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€5,875M
2025 · EU pctl 87
Labour market
Employment, total persons
250,020
2024 · EU pctl 81
Self-employed persons
43,120
2024 · EU pctl 83
Employment in manufacturing (C)
38,250
2024 · EU pctl 80
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)
4.7%
2025 · EU pctl 55
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
276,300
2025 · EU pctl 82
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
35,534
2023 · EU pctl 78
Enterprise births
3,755
2023 · EU pctl 79
Enterprise deaths
4,709
2023 · EU pctl 87
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.8%
2023 · EU pctl 60
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)
5,692,982
2024 · EU pctl 89
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.
1,300
CURRENT · EU pctl 65
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,040 kt
2025 · EU pctl 67
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
252
CURRENT · EU pctl 36
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
5 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 14 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
29
CURRENT · EU pctl 23
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)
334,052
2025 · EU pctl 78
Population aged 65+
90,182
2025 · EU pctl 69
Population aged under 15
92,751
2025 · EU pctl 85
Median age of population
40.6 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 6
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
27.0%
2025 · EU pctl 6
Crude rate of total population change
25.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 99
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
22.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Crude birth rate
9.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 94
Crude death rate
6.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 2
Live births
4,987
2024 · EU pctl 86
Deaths
3,498
2024 · EU pctl 59
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.8%
2025 · EU pctl 20
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.55
2024 · EU pctl 82
Population density (persons per km²)
37 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 11
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
586,284
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
0.2 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 23
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
5.6 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 11
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
108 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 22
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
634 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 39
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)
62 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 18
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 0
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
16 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 12
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
8 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 79
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 49
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
54
2024 · EU pctl 52
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
75.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 82
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
3.7%
2021 · EU pctl 57
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Ireland regions