Laois has one of the lowest levels of disposable income in Ireland

Laois has one of the lowest disposable incomes per person in Ireland, according to new figures released by the Central Statistics Office on Wednesday, February 4.

Laois followed behind Longford and border counties for some of the lowest disposable income levels, with the average GDP per person in the county being €32,717.

With this figure, Laois is 16.2% below the national average.

Laois' performance in this latest study by the CSO is reflective of the overall region, with the Midlands recording some of the lowest levels of disposable income in 2024, the year which this report focuses on.

Commenting on the study, Aoife Crowe, Statistician in the National Accounts Analysis and Globalisation Division of the CSO, said: "The Midland region (Laois, Longford, Offaly, and Westmeath) continued to have the lowest levels of disposable income in 2024. The income of this region accounted for €8.8 billion overall and was 14.5% below the national average per person.

"The Border (Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo) and Midland regions consistently remain significantly below the national average for household disposable income and are largely dependent on the Public Administration sector to generate wealth and employment in their respective regions."

However, it is worth noting that employment did fall by 1% in the Midlands in 2024, no doubt impacting the results.

Unsurprisingly, cities such as Dublin, Limerick and Cork were all on the higher end of the scale given the size of the workforce in these areas and the industries located there.

Counties in the Midlands and at the border had the lowest percentage of workers due to low populations and the lack of industry. 

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Public administration, education and health was the largest industry in the Midlands in 2024 with over 29.6% of the workforce employed within these sectors. Following closely behind, 24.6% of the population worked in distribution, transport, hotels and restaurants.

The Midlands also had the second highest rate of people working in agriculture nationally, at 6.2%. This was behind the Border region with 9.3%.