Ireland

Ireland has been one of Europe's fastest-growing economies, transformed from an agrarian society into a globalized high-tech hub by low corporate taxes that drew major American technology and pharmaceutical multinationals.

Those multinationals inflate headline output figures, but the underlying domestic economy is also strong. Ireland is an EU and eurozone member with very high living standards.

Key Sectors

The economy is led by pharmaceuticals and medical devices, information technology and software (the European base of many US tech giants), financial services, and agriculture and food, especially dairy and beef.