Income in Ireland
The median income in Ireland is about $49 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars) — richer than 90% of everyone alive. Half of Ireland lives on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the bottom 1% of Ireland.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in today's EUR, at each point on the curve of Ireland (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Ireland | €11,506 | $28 |
| 25% of Ireland | €15,439 | $37 |
| 50% of Ireland | €20,627 | $49 |
| 75% of Ireland | €28,472 | $68 |
| 90% of Ireland | €38,912 | $93 |
| 99% of Ireland | €104,601 | $250 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Ireland
How much of Ireland and of the world lives on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | Ireland | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | <1% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | <1% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 17% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | 83% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayIreland <1% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayIreland <1% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayIreland 17% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayIreland 83% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 83% of Ireland lives on Level 4, $33 a day or more per person; worldwide, roughly one in seven people do.
The line that moved
Fewer than 1% of Ireland lived under the $3.00 line at every survey since 1994 — this is a line that moved long before the data begins.
Share of Ireland under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
Who earns what in Ireland
8 portraits, not payroll data: each stands roughly where that kind of work typically earns on the curve of Ireland.
| the lowest 10% | the earnings of a kitchen porter in Dublin |
|---|---|
| 10–25% | the earnings of a hotel receptionist in Galway |
| 25–45% | the earnings of a bus driver — with a word for every regular |
| 45–65% | the earnings of a Garda — community policing, rain or shine |
| 65–82% | the earnings of a secondary teacher — and the hurling coach besides |
| 82–93% | the earnings of a pharma process engineer in Cork |
| 93–98% | the earnings of a hospital consultant |
| the highest 2% | the earnings of a tech director in the Docklands |
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Ireland (survey year 2023), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to Ireland's — and a few far from it, for scale.