Economy of Dublin

Union (down from 10th in 2010) and the 58th most expensive place to live in the world (down from 42nd in 2010). As of 2005, approximately 800,000 people were employed in the Greater Dublin Area, of whom around 600,000 were employed in the services sector and 200,000 in the industrial sector.

Many of Dublin's traditional industries, such as food processing, textile manufacturing, brewing, and distilling have gradually declined, although Guinness has been brewed at the St. James's Gate Brewery since 1759. Economic improvements in the 1990s have attracted a large number of global pharmaceutical, information and communications technology companies to the city and Greater Dublin Area. Companies such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter and Pfizer now have European headquarters and/or operational bases in the city. Intel and Hewlett-Packard have large manufacturing plants in Leixlip, County Kildare, 15 km (9 mi) to the west.

Financial services have also become important to the city since the establishment of Dublin's International Financial Services Centre in 1987, which is globally recognised as a leading location for a range of internationally traded financial services. More than 500