OECD study puts Republic in top five wealthiest

The Republic is one of the world's five wealthiest countries according to a new study that takes into account the price of goods and services as well as economic output.

The analysis, compiled by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union's statistical office, Eurostat, compare gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for purchasing power parities, which are defined by the OECD as "currency conversion rates that enable international volume comparison of GDP by taking into account the differences in price levels between countries".

GDP is the value in monetary terms of the goods and services produced by a country.

Using this measure, the Republic scores 129, compared to an average of 100 for the 30 members of the OECD. This puts the Republic in fourth place behind Luxembourg (205), Norway (144) and the United States (142).

However, the organisation warns that small differences in per capita GDP are not, in general, statistically or economically significant.

As a result they divide the countries into four groups.

Along with Luxembourg, the US, Norway and Switzerland (128), Ireland falls into the high income group.

The United Kingdom scored 113 and is in the high middle income group along with most of the 15 members of the European Union prior to enlargement and Australia and Japan.

Ireland fell into this category when the survey was last carried out, using 1999 data. Its promotion to the top ranks was a "remarkable development" according to the OECD.

Spain, Portugal and Greece are in the low middle income group and are below the OECD average.

Of the state's that joined the EU last year, Hungary, Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia and the Czech Republic fall into this category.

The remaining accession states fall into the low income group along with Russia and Turkey.