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Ireland's gross domestic product (GDP) per head was still above most EU countries in 2009, despite the recession, new data showed today.

The Eurostat survey found Irish GDP was 27 per cent higher than the EU average per inhabitant, ranking the country ahead of Germany, the UK, Sweden, Austria and Denmark, and just behind Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

However, the survey also noted that the figure had fallen 20 per cent in relation to the EU average since 2007, when it was 47 per cent above the average.

GDP expressed in purchasing power standards was also higher than the EU average, with Ireland, Austria and Denmark between 20 and 30 per cent above that figure. Luxembourg was more than two and ahalf times the EU average, while the Netherlands was more than 30 per cent above it.

The data in the report is based on revised purchasing power parities, and GDP and population figures.

Overall, GDP per inhabitant in member states last year was in the range of 44 per cent to 271 per cent of the EU27 average.