NUTS-3 IE051 · Ireland
Mid-West
Mid-West generates €35bn of GDP across 540.4k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 72.1/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by economic scale and economic growth. Its economy has grown +7.4%/yr over five years and cooling, with the employment rate up 7.9pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for economy (86.5th EU percentile) and weakest for digital connectivity (42th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Long-run riser70 → 92 EU percentile since 1995 (+22 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 base97
Economic base93
Growth momentum90
Governance90
Talent & skills84
Demographic outlook82
Quality of life60
Labour market57
Freight intensity54
Digital readiness51
Connectivity45
Resilience31
Cost advantage20
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)
72.1
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth90.2
Livability60.3
Market access47
Economic scale91
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 stability2
Labour stability11
Diversification12
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)
45
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density33
Airport access55
Market access47
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)
84
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary97
Lifelong learning64
Knowledge workers86
Scientists & engineers89
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)
60.3
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy86.5
Jobs55
Education53.5
Health69.5
Safety58.7
Connectivity42
Environment57
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
90.2
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+7.4%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+9.9%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-2.6 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.7 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+1.6%
CAGR
Employment rate
+7.9 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-1.6 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 · 40.9%Moderately concentrated · HHI 2644
Agriculture 2.7%Industry 40.9%Construction 3.4%Trade · transport · ICT 18.3%Finance · real estate · prof. 20.2%Public · health · education 14.6%
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)
€34,782M2024
3.7% 1y 7.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 91
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€33,518M2025
12.4% 1y 4.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 92
Population
540,3712025
2.0% 1y 1.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 80
Unemployment rate
4.2%2025
35.5% 1y 6.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 48
Employment
265,7302024
6.1% 1y 4.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 82
Productivity / employee
€145,6272025
11.3% 1y 2.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 96
Gross value added
€33,119M2024
3.8% 1y 7.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 92
All indicators · 88 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€33,119M
2024 · EU pctl 92
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€902M
2024 · EU pctl 97
GVA — industry (B–E)
€13,541M
2024 · EU pctl 98
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€13,111M
2024 · EU pctl 98
GVA — construction (F)
€1,120M
2024 · EU pctl 82
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€6,045M
2024 · EU pctl 89
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€28,700
2023 · EU pctl 80 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
55,200 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 93
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€65,100
2024 · EU pctl 94
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€43,613M
2023 · EU pctl 89 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€27,811M
2023 · EU pctl 100 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€41,142M
2023 · EU pctl 61 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,211M
2024 · EU pctl 59
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,886M
2024 · EU pctl 88
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,687M
2024 · EU pctl 89
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,824M
2024 · EU pctl 86
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€33,518M
2025 · EU pctl 92
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€145,627
2025 · EU pctl 96
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€9,048M
2025 · EU pctl 93
Labour market
Employment, total persons
265,730
2024 · EU pctl 82
Self-employed persons
40,610
2024 · EU pctl 81
Employment in manufacturing (C)
40,730
2024 · EU pctl 82
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
78.0%
2025 · EU pctl 52 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
9.8%
2025 · EU pctl 36 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.2%
2025 · EU pctl 48
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
288,900
2025 · EU pctl 83
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
34,222
2023 · EU pctl 76
Enterprise births
3,525
2023 · EU pctl 78
Enterprise deaths
5,075
2023 · EU pctl 89
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.8%
2023 · EU pctl 61
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
0.6%
2023 · EU pctl 10 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
9.1%
2025 · EU pctl 96 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.0%
2023 · EU pctl 42 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
54.8%
2025 · EU pctl 97 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
63.4%
2025 · EU pctl 97 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
12.9%
2025 · EU pctl 64 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
29.7%
2025 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
12.0%
2025 · EU pctl 89 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
95.6%
2025 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,323,932
2024 · EU pctl 80
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
483 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 18 · 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.
1,127
CURRENT · EU pctl 59
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,081 kt
2025 · EU pctl 80
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
13 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 26 · NUTS-2 src
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
209
CURRENT · EU pctl 33
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
50
CURRENT · EU pctl 45
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
351,012
2025 · EU pctl 81
Population aged 65+
92,872
2025 · EU pctl 70
Population aged under 15
96,487
2025 · EU pctl 86
Median age of population
40.4 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 5
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
26.5%
2025 · EU pctl 5
Crude rate of total population change
20.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
17.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 96
Crude birth rate
9.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 91
Crude death rate
7.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 4
Live births
5,097
2024 · EU pctl 86
Deaths
3,900
2024 · EU pctl 63
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.9%
2025 · EU pctl 16
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.49
2024 · EU pctl 69
Population density (persons per km²)
53 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 18
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
626,322
2100 · EU pctl 86
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
269 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 13 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
936 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 31 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
247 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 77 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 31
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.6 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 33
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
212 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 51
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,155 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 70
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
32 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 23 · 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)
263 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 57
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 0
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
28 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 20
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 76
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.
11
2024 · EU pctl 43
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
51
2024 · EU pctl 35
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
117 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 90
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
7.9%
2021 · EU pctl 81
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Ireland regions