Ireland ranks very high in wealth globally, typically within the top 4 or 5 countries by GDP (PPP) per capita, placing it among the world's richest nations, though its exact position varies slightly by source and year (e.g., 4th in some 2025 lists, 2nd in others), reflecting its strong knowledge-based, service-driven economy.
In the global GDP per capita tables, Ireland ranks 2nd of 192 in the IMF table and 4th of 187 in the World Bank ranking. (2023 est. )
Ireland has a GDP of $609B compared to $3.69T for the United Kingdom, ranking 25/197 and 6/197 by economy size, respectively. Ireland has $250B in government debt (34.3% of GDP), compared to $3.73T (105.4% of GDP) in the United Kingdom.
For most people, a household salary of €100,000 would put a family in the category of “rich”. And if you earned that last year, you were among the top 6.6pc of employees, Revenue figures show. The average gross pay for a PAYE worker nationwide was €42,100 in 2024, while the Dublin average was €49,500.
As of Q2 2025, the wealthiest 10 per cent of Irish households owned €674.9bn, or 49.3 per cent of total household net wealth in the country. The total net wealth of households in the poorest half of the distribution fell by €4.2bn (3.3 per cent) to stand at €120.7bn, or 8.8 per cent of the national total.
A 'good' salary in Ireland generally ranges from €50,000 to €70,000 per year. This would allow a single person or small family to live comfortably, especially outside of Dublin.
In Kohli's view, gross national product (GNP), which includes net income earned abroad, would be a better measure: in Switzerland GNP exceeds GDP by as much as eight per cent. Changing the benchmark calculation would also place Switzerland comfortably above Ireland in terms of national income per capita.
Irish citizens from the Republic of Ireland have automatic and permanent permission to live in the United Kingdom and are eligible to vote, stand for public office, and serve in non-reserved government positions; any children born to them in the United Kingdom are British citizens.
By 2050, China is projected to be the world's richest country by total GDP, leading a significant shift where emerging economies like India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Russia rise to challenge traditional giants, with the U.S. potentially falling to third, while Singapore might become the richest per capita (PPP), though these predictions depend heavily on technological progress, political stability, and growth rates.
The United States has the most national debt in absolute dollar terms, exceeding $38 trillion, followed by China and Japan, but Japan has the highest debt relative to its economy (debt-to-GDP ratio) at over 200%, indicating a much larger burden on its economic output. Other countries with high debt-to-GDP ratios include Sudan, Singapore, and Venezuela, but the U.S. holds the largest total figure, impacting global debt.
Global inequality is well known, and the report shows how the top 10% own 75% of all global wealth.
Housing was seen as the most important issue facing the Republic of Ireland as of 2025, with 64 percent of respondents placing it as one of the top two issues facing the country.
South Sudan is widely considered the poorest country in the world in 2025-2026, consistently ranking first due to extremely low GDP per capita and a high percentage (over 80%) of its population living in extreme poverty, driven by prolonged civil conflict, displacement, and disruption of its agricultural economy. Other nations frequently cited as among the poorest include Burundi, the Central African Republic, and Yemen, also suffering from conflict and instability.
The administrative county with the highest gross household income in Ireland in 2022 was Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, with a median gross income of €84,991 and a mean of €122,615. After the deduction of income tax, USC and PRSI, the median net household income of this area was €66,950, and the mean net was €84,382.
Full freedom of movement has been extended to EU Nationals. This means that EU citizens may take up employment and reside in Switzerland without the need for a work permit.
The richest country by GDP (PPP) per capita is often cited as Singapore, followed closely by Luxembourg, depending on the specific report and year, with Singapore leading in 2025 estimates with around $156,000-$157,000 per person, while Luxembourg is a strong contender just below that, highlighting small, finance-heavy economies as wealthiest per person.
Ireland is No. 23 overall in the 2021 Best Countries rankings, after not being ranked in 2020. It also appears in the top 10 for the Open for Business subranking. Ireland has a small, trade-dependent economy.
Housing: Overall, housing in Ireland is about 5.3% cheaper than housing in the U.S. Rent: In Dublin, rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city center is around €2,200 ($2,400), comparable to high-cost U.S. cities like New York and San Francisco, where rents can exceed $3,000.
The agency's latest analysis of earnings broken down by gender and county indicated that men represented 73.6 per cent of those in the top 1 per cent income bracket (those earning above €300,000 a year). The proportion of women among the State's top one per cent of earners is, however, increasing.
More than one in every ten people in Ireland lives on an income below the poverty line (11.7 per cent of the population). Based on the most recent Census data, this corresponds to more than 629,000 people. Without cost of living supports the at risk of poverty rate would have been 14.1 per cent.
That is about 12 per cent of the total. That is more than double the 206,000 earners in this category in 2020, when they represented 7.5 per cent of total taxpayers. Even as recently as 2022, the total number earning more than €100,000 was just over 236,000. Inflation, of course, is part of this story.
The Household Finance and Consumption Survey, 2020, published in 2022, said that the top 10% of wealthy households have more than approximately $881,00 (€788,400) in net wealth. In contrast, the lowest 10% of households have around $111 (€100) in net wealth. The median gross wealth was just under €300,000 (€265,100).