Ireland
Northern Europe
Overall scoring rubric
How easy it is to get in, stay, and build status.
How far local income goes after prices.
How friendly the country is for taxes, companies, and investing.
How comfortable everyday life is for families and long stays.
How reliable freedoms and institutions are.
Safety (84) clears the 40 floor, so no penalty applies.
Healthcare (89) clears the 40 floor, so no penalty applies.
Environment (96) clears the 35 floor, so no penalty applies.
Rights and institutions (95) clears the 30 floor, so no penalty applies.
English-speaking EU member and the European HQ of choice for global tech, with a famous 12.5% corporate rate, but a high cost of living and acute housing shortage.
Pros
- English-speaking EU
- 12.5% corporate tax
- Easy ancestry citizenship route
Cons
- Severe housing crisis
- High personal taxes
- Not in Schengen
Best for
Score profile
Access
Residence
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any residence / visa decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
Our 0–100 score combines international migrant stock (40%), regulatory quality (20%), the breadth of named residence pathways (25%), and time to permanent residence (15%). Available indicators are reweighted.
| Student | Stamp 2; 20 hrs/week term-time, 40 hrs in holidays. |
|---|---|
| Work | Critical Skills Permit fast-tracks to Stamp 4 after 2 years. |
| Self-employed | Start-up Entrepreneur Programme (STEP) needs €50k funding. |
| Permanent | Long-term residence (Stamp 4) after ~5 years legal stay. |
Citizenship
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any citizenship decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
| Years required | 5 (of last 9, incl. 1 continuous) |
|---|---|
| Dual allowed | true |
| Language | None |
| Residence | 5 reckonable years; citizenship by descent if a grandparent was Irish |
| Notes | Foreign Births Register lets those with an Irish grandparent claim citizenship without residing. |
Passport
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any travel or visa decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
Passport-index style mobility for the Ireland passport. The score above is its world reach: the share of 198 destinations reachable without a prior visa.
- Visa-free142
- On arrival38
- eTA9
- Visa required9
Passport Index style mobility data (2024–2025 estimate). Placeholder figures; verify current entry rules with each destination’s authority before travelling.
Earning power
Salary & work
Our 0–100 score combines output per worker (a proxy for wage potential at 40%), unemployment (35%) and labour-force participation (25%). Available indicators are reweighted; the curated profile fields remain below.
| Freelance | Strong contracting around Dublin's tech cluster |
|---|---|
| Job market | Google, Meta, Stripe, Microsoft EU bases; English-only roles common. |
Buying power
Our 0–100 score estimates how far money goes for the typical person here. It combines GNI per capita at PPP (30%) and actual household consumption per person at PPP (15%) with a price-advantage term from the local price level (25%) that rewards lower prices, then adjusts for income equality via the Gini index (20%), so unequal economies don't ride a high average, plus price stability via consumer inflation (10%). Available indicators are reweighted; it is a comparison, not a personal budget estimate.
Cost of living
Our 0–100 affordability score is derived from the local consumer price level (World Bank, US = 100): the cheaper everyday prices are, the higher it scores. Lower price level means your money goes further here.
| Rent | €1,800–2,600 (1BR Dublin) |
|---|---|
| Monthly | €2,300 |
| Cities | Dublin, Cork, Galway |
Economy
Our 0–100 score combines income level (GDP and GNI per capita, output per worker), growth momentum (real GDP growth), price stability (inflation) and labour utilisation (unemployment). Available indicators are reweighted; the sector split and industry profile below are descriptive, not scored.
| Type | High-income, services- and FDI-led |
|---|---|
| Key sectors | Multinational tech & pharma hubs, Aircraft leasing, Agri-food |
| Summary | A small, open economy and major hub for US multinationals in tech, pharma and finance. |
| Currency | Euro (eurozone member) |
Business and wealth
Taxes
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
| Personal | 20% then 40%, plus USC (up to 8%) and PRSI (4%) |
|---|---|
| Corporate | 12.5% trading income; 15% top-up for large MNEs (Pillar Two) |
| Capital gains | 33% |
| Dividends | Taxed at marginal rate + USC/PRSI |
| Exit tax | Yes: deemed disposal on emigration for certain assets |
| Foreign cos | CFC rules apply since 2019 |
Personal tax
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
| Personal | 20% then 40%, plus USC (up to 8%) and PRSI (4%) |
|---|---|
| Freelance | Sole trader registration simple; contracting market strong |
| Capital gains | 33% |
| Dividends | Taxed at marginal rate + USC/PRSI |
| Exit tax | Yes: deemed disposal on emigration for certain assets |
Corporate tax
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
| Corporate | 12.5% trading income; 15% top-up for large MNEs (Pillar Two) |
|---|---|
| Capital gains | 33% |
| Dividends | Taxed at marginal rate + USC/PRSI |
| Foreign cos | CFC rules apply since 2019 |
Business
Our 0–100 score measures the operating environment without counting tax a second time: company formation and ownership rules contribute 40%, regulatory quality 30%, and government effectiveness 30%. Available indicators are reweighted; the values are shown below.
| Foreign co. | Yes: 100% foreign ownership permitted |
|---|---|
| Local co. | Private LTD in days; one EEA-resident director or a bond |
| Freelance | Sole trader registration simple; contracting market strong |
Investment
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any investment / tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
Our 0–100 score measures market access without counting tax a second time: broker availability contributes 50%, equity-market depth 30%, and private credit depth 20%. Available indicators are reweighted.
| Capital gains | 33% CGT; €1,270 annual exemption; 41% 'deemed disposal' on ETFs every 8 yrs |
|---|---|
| Dividends | Data not available yet |
| ETFs & funds | Data not available yet |
| Wealth tax | None |
| Brokers | Good: DEGIRO, Interactive Brokers, Trade Republic |
| Foreign access | Data not available yet |
| Tax-advantaged | Data not available yet |
Wealth building
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax / investment decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
How favourable Ireland is for building wealth: earnings and business/investment upside, tax drag, and how much a typical income keeps after living costs. Estimated from the factors below.
Daily life
Safety
Our 0–100 score combines personal safety (intentional homicide rate at 50%), political stability and absence of violence (30%), and control of corruption (20%). Available indicators are reweighted; the published values are shown below. Always check current government travel and security advice before relocating.
Healthcare
Our 0–100 score combines health outcomes (life expectancy at 25% and under-5 mortality at 20%) with system capacity (physicians at 20% and hospital beds at 15% per 1,000 people) and health spending per capita (20%). Available indicators are reweighted; the published values are shown below.
| System | Public (HSE) + large private sector |
|---|---|
| Insurance | Public access for residents; private insurance common for speed |
| Avg cost | €1,200–2,000 / yr private cover |
Environment
Our 0–100 score combines annual population-weighted PM2.5 exposure at 60% with freshwater stress at 40%. Lower exposure and lower water stress score better. Air quality alone can produce a score because it covers most countries; water stress alone cannot.
Infrastructure
The score combines digital access, resilience and download performance (30%), electricity access and network losses (30%), and transport infrastructure covering rail, logistics and aviation (40%). Available inputs are reweighted, but a country needs both digital and transport data to receive a score.
Sources: World Bank World Development Indicators · Internet Society Pulse Internet Resilience Index
Education
Our 0–100 score combines attainment (expected schooling at 30% and mean schooling at 25%) with participation (tertiary enrolment at 25%) and public investment (government education spending at 20%). Available indicators are reweighted; tuition and study rules remain separate profile fields below.
| Tuition | €3,000 (EU 'free fees') – €25,000 (non-EU) |
|---|---|
| Public uni | EU students pay the ~€3,000 student contribution |
| Languages | English |
| Student work | 20 hrs/week during term, 40 hrs in holidays |
HDI
The UN Human Development Index is the geometric mean of three dimension indices (a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living), shown on a 0–100 map scale (HDI × 100). The 2023 UNDP inputs behind each dimension are listed below.
Rights and institutions
Freedom
The score weights Freedom House’s 0–100 Freedom in the World score at 60% and its Freedom on the Net score at 40%. If either report does not cover a country, the available score is used alone. Scores of 70 and above are rated “Free”, 40–69 “Partly free”, and below 40 “Not free”.
| Freedom in the World | 97 / 100 (Free) |
|---|
Rule of law
The World Bank’s Rule of Law indicator captures how well contracts are enforced and how independent and effective the courts, police and property-rights regime are. We show its 0–100 percentile rank, where higher means stronger, more predictable institutions.
| Rule of Law percentile | 93 / 100 |
|---|
Resources
Official references and quick links for Ireland. Always confirm against the primary source before acting.
Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any immigration, tax or legal decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.
Mock data for demonstration only. Not legal or tax advice.