Ireland's GDP was €602 billion in 2025, but the measure that tracks the real domestic economy, GNI*, was €334 billion. Here is what each number means, why they are so far apart, and which one the State uses for what.
On paper, Ireland produced €110,365 of output for every person living here in 2025. Very few households would recognise that number. The reason is that a large share of Ireland's GDP belongs to multinational companies and never reaches the Irish economy.
That is why the Central Statistics Office (CSO) publishes a second measure, called GNI* or modified GNI. In 2025 it came to €334 billion, a little over half of GDP.
What GDP measures
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the value of everything produced inside a country in a year. It counts output made in Ireland, no matter who owns the company that made it.
For most countries, GDP is a fair guide to how the economy is doing. Ireland is different. Some of the world's largest firms in medicines, technology and aircraft leasing book huge profits here, and those profits are counted in Irish GDP.
Much of that profit is then paid out to owners abroad. It shows up in GDP, but it does not pay Irish wages or fund Irish spending.
GNI takes out profits sent abroad
Gross national income (GNI) starts with GDP. It then takes away income paid to people and firms abroad, and adds income that Irish residents earn from abroad.
GNI was €430 billion in 2025, up just 0.4% on 2024 before inflation is taken into account. That is closer to reality than GDP, but it still includes some large effects from global companies.
GNI* strips out three more effects
GNI* was recommended by an expert group, the Economic Statistics Review Group. The CSO says it is designed to exclude globalisation effects that distort the measured size of the Irish economy. It takes three items off GNI.
| Step | What it is | € billion |
|---|---|---|
| GNI | Starting point | 430.0 |
| Less: redomiciled firms | Income of companies that moved their head office here but do little else here | -16.3 |
| Less: IP depreciation | Wear and tear on patents and other intellectual property owned here | -69.4 |
| Less: aircraft leasing | Wear and tear on planes owned by Irish leasing firms | -10.3 |
| GNI* | Result | 334.0 |
Depreciation means the loss in value of an asset as it ages or wears out. When a multinational moves patents worth billions to Ireland, the yearly loss in their value is counted here, even though it has little to do with Irish jobs or spending.
How far apart the numbers are
In 2024, GNI* was 57.2% of GDP. In 2025 it fell to 55.4%. In other words, the share of Irish output tied to multinational effects grew again.
Why the gap moves each year
The three GNI* adjustments change from year to year as multinationals move assets and profits. In 2025 the biggest one, wear and tear on intellectual property, fell by €15 billion. The income of redomiciled companies, by contrast, rose to its highest level in the six years shown.
| Year | Redomiciled firms | IP depreciation | Aircraft leasing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 4.2 | 69.8 | 9.3 |
| 2021 | 10.6 | 73.7 | 9.3 |
| 2022 | 4.7 | 79.0 | 9.5 |
| 2023 | 12.8 | 82.5 | 10.0 |
| 2024 | 11.8 | 84.7 | 10.3 |
| 2025 | 16.3 | 69.4 | 10.3 |
These items are so large that they can push GDP and GNI up or down even when little has changed for Irish workers and households. GNI* is built to filter out most of that effect, which is why economists watch it closely.
GNI* per person in 2025, worked out from CSO figures, compared with GDP per person of €110,365
Source: cso.ieThe measures can tell different stories
In 2023, GDP shrank by 3.3% after inflation. On that measure alone, Ireland was in a downturn. Yet GNI* grew by 6.1% in real terms that year, a sign the home economy was still expanding.
In 2025 the CSO put real GDP growth at 8.0%, driven by sectors dominated by multinationals. Its first estimate, in March 2026, had been 12.3%. Big swings and revisions like these are common in Irish GDP.
Other measures you may hear about
- Net national income (NNI): GNI minus all depreciation
- Modified domestic demand (MDD): spending by households, Government and Irish-based business investment, minus most multinational effects
- GDP per head: GDP divided by population, €110,365 in 2025
- Real or constant prices: figures with inflation removed, so growth is not just higher prices
MDD is published every quarter, so it is often the first sign of how the home economy is doing. The headline GNI* figure for each year comes in the CSO Annual National Accounts, published in July 2026 for 2025.
Ireland's huge GDP means Irish people are among the richest in the world.
GDP per head is inflated by multinational profits that leave the country. GNI* was 55.4% of GDP in 2025, so measures of the home economy are much smaller.
Why this matters to you
Ratios such as national debt or tax as a share of the economy look much smaller when measured against GDP. Measured against GNI*, they are larger. GNI* gives a more realistic picture of the income the home economy has to carry those costs.
What this means for you
- When you see a big GDP growth headline, check what GNI* or MDD did too.
- Use GNI* to compare debt, tax or spending with the size of the Irish economy.
- Expect large revisions: the 2025 GDP growth estimate fell from 12.3% to 8.0%.
- For the latest figures, see the CSO Annual National Accounts, published each summer, and the quarterly national accounts.
CSO Annual National Accounts 2026, with the first full GNI* figure for 2026. The 2025 edition came out on 2 July 2026.
