We are confident that Belfast offers you
the opportunity to compete successfully
in markets across the globe. But you don't
need to take our word for it. The facts
speak for themselves.
People
There are currently
268,323 people living in the
city whilst over 650,958
people live in the wider
metropolitan area.
The city has one of the
youngest populations in Europe - a fifth of
the population is less
than 16 years old.
The working age
population accounts
for over 60% of the city's
total population.
Belfast’s population growth
has stabilised in recent years
and is expected to grow by
0.25% by 2016.
Location
Belfast is the heart of
Northern Ireland, located
on the northeast coast of
Ireland and is part of the
United Kingdom.
Our closest major cities
by car include Dublin
(103.9 miles/167.2
km) and Londonderry (71.4
miles/114.9 km).
Belfast has two modern
airports within 20
minutes of the city
centre with regular flights
throughout the day to
London (75 minute flight),
Manchester (60 minutes),
Edinburgh (50 minutes),
Paris (100 minutes), Berlin
(225 minutes), New
York (440 minutes) and many other locations
throughout North
America and Europe.
Belfast has excellent
road, rail and sea links to
Ireland, the UK, Europe
and beyond.
The Port of Belfast
accommodated over
6,000 sailings to Great
Britain, Europe and
beyond in 2008.
Economy
Gross Value Added
(GVA) per capita for Belfast
is £28,522. The trend in
productivity for Belfast is
promising; between 2000
and 2008 GVA per capita
in Belfast increased by
almost 50%.
In 2007, there were
198,796 employee jobs
in the city, almost 30% of
the total employment in
Northern Ireland.
Belfast attracts the largest
number of software
development projects
in the United Kingdom
outside of London.
Labour costs are 15%
lower than the UK
average while labour
turnover is less than 8%.
The unemployment
rate for Belfast currently
stands at 6.4%. This is lower than the UK average of 7.9%
(December 2009).
Tourism is a key growth
sector for the city. In 2008
tourist activity injected
a total of £436.6 million
into the local economy, an
increase of 39% on 2007,
supporting 24,838 full
time jobs.
The number of VAT
registered businesses
was 8,730 in 2009. Our
main business sectors
include professional,
scientific and technical
sector (16.6%),
construction (11.9%) and
retail (11.7%).
Home
We are confident that Belfast offers you
the opportunity to compete successfully
in markets across the globe. But you don't
need to take our word for it. The facts
speak for themselves.
