why has the GDP per capita of Ireland grown of almost 30% between 2014 and 2015?

Question

I came across these graphs today :https://data.oecd.org/gdp/gross-domestic-product-gdp.htmhttps://data.oecd.org/lprdty/gdp-per-hour-worked.htmIn both, something doesn't make sense for me: the GDP per capita of Ireland had a 30% growth between 2014 and 2015. None of the other country seems to have such behavior. Does anybody know why? Is there any bank/debt/accounting reason for this sudden increase? A political reason?

Answer 1

Great question mate. Ireland is a small country. Meaning changes are felt much more dramatically as far as the numbers go. Numbers do not always tell the whole story. You need to take into account the whole picture. I mean Ireland is tiny compared to other countries. With such a small country a simple new contract from a company to manufacture a new product in the country could make a large shift.

It could also be something on the political side maybe something happened in those years that affected the GDP numbers like population growth or decline. Maybe you want to check out the GDP over a longer period of time?

These are just some ideas I have for you. Please let me know what other questions you have I love this kind of stuff.

Best,

Bryce