Dublin Profile
February 2009

• Dublin County is located on the east coast of Ireland and is home to 1,187,176 million people, 28% of the State’s population (4,239,848 million).
• Dublin County accounts for 1.3% of the landmass of the state.
  The county includes the administrative areas of Dublin City, South Dublin, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and Fingal, and is the economic, cultural and administrative capital of Ireland.
• Due to decades of underinvestment in infrastructure and uncoordinated planning and design in Dublin County, people and business have located in the surrounding counties of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow in order to gain access to the facilities and employment located in the capital. Hence the terms the ‘Dublin Region’, the ‘Greater Dublin Area’ and the ‘Dublin City Region’ are often used when referring to these four counties as a unit.
• Nearly 40% of the State’s population resides in the Dublin City Region, which accounts for 10% of the State’s land.
• The two largest increases in population experienced in the State between 2002 and 2006 occurred in Fingal and Meath. The number of people living in these areas increased by 22.2% and 21.5% respectively (43,579 persons and 28,826 persons).
• Dublin has a young diverse population. Half of the population of Dublin County is aged between 10 years and 39 years. The Dublin region (14.5%) had the highest proportion of non-Irish nationals compared with around 10% for the other regions.  Within this region Dublin City has 17.2% and Fingal 15.6%.
• The population of the City Region is projected to rise by up to 250,000 by 2013 and 440,000 by 2021.
• By 2030, it is anticipated that anything up to half of the state’s population could be based in 10% of Ireland’s landmass.

Source: DIT, The Futures Academy, ‘Twice the Size’, March 2008

Location:	Area (hectares)	Population (2006)	% Change in Pop between 2002 and 2006
Dublin City	11,761	506,211	2.1
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County	12,695	194,038	1.2
Fingal County	45,309	239,992	22.2
South Dublin County	22,301	246,935	3.4
Dublin County	92,066	1,187,176	5.7
Kildare County	169,420	186,335	13.7
Meath County	233,454	162,831	21.5
Wicklow County	203,260	126,194	10
State	7,018,224	4,239,848	8.2

Source: CSO 2006 Volume 1 - Population Classified by Area; CSO Regional Quality of Life in Ireland 2008

The Dublin Economy
It is internationally recognised that city regions have a concentration of economic activity and the pool of skills and resources that provide a natural environment for companies to grow. This growth, in turn, helps drive the development of national economies. So it is important to recognise the sheer size of the Dublin economy relative to the national economy, and the role it plays as the engine of growth for the whole country:

• The Dublin City Region accounts for over four out of every ten jobs, just under half of all goods and services produced and nearly half of Ireland’s tax revenue.
• Dublin County had the highest Gross Value Added (GVA) per person at €48,580 compared with the lowest of €22,914 in the Midland region and the national average of €34,468.
• Dublin County itself is home to 615,000 workers, with over 200,000 people working within the canals in the IFSC, the growing legal district south of the Liffey, the retail and tourism sectors, and in ‘new economy’ companies such as Google.
• Dublin is home to Google’s EU headquarters, Ebay’s European headquarters and Yahoo’s European headquarters.
• In 2008, the Dublin City Region secured 18 new IDA investments. These new investments totalled €240 million and are creating nearly 1,350 new jobs. Companies like IBM and Citi are significantly expanding their R&D activities in the region and others like Facebook opening brand new operations.
• Dublin County accounts for nearly 48% of the GVA in the market & non-market services sector.
• The Dublin City Region is the centre for learning in Ireland and is home to University College Dublin; NUI, Maynooth; Trinity College, Dublin; Dublin City University; St. Patrick's Teacher Training College, Drumcondra; the National College of Art & Design; Dublin Institute of Technology; Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology; Colaiste Mhuire, Marino, Dublin; C.O.I. College of Education, Rathmines; and Froebel College, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.
• It has the highest proportion of people with a 3rd level qualification in the country among those who had completed their full-time education. 35.9% of persons in Dublin County had a 3rd level education, with this dropping to 33.4% in the Dublin City Region and 29% nationally.
• Three out of four Irish Ph.D.s coming from Dublin County.

More information on doing business in Ireland is available in the 2004 Grant Thornton Guide here