Southern Region of Ireland is a subdivision of Ireland as defined by the

Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS () is a geocode standard for referencing the administrative divisions of countries for statistical purposes. The standard, adopted in 2003, is developed and regulated by the European ...

(NUTS). It is one of the three classified NUTS-2 statistical

regions of Ireland Ireland uses the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) geocode standard for referencing country subdivisions for statistical purposes. The standard is developed and regulated by the European Union. The NUTS standard is instrum ...

. The region incorporates the southern parts of the country, and incorporates ten counties across the Mid-West, South-East, and South-West

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. With a population of nearly 1.8 million, and it is the second most populated of the three regions of Ireland. With a high HDI, the region is classified as one of the more developed regions in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Classification

The country of Ireland is organized into eight

for administrative purposes. The

(NUTS) organizes the country into three broader level sub-divisions. These are classified as a NUTS-2 statistical

, and incorporate one or more of the eight regions within it. The regions form the NUTS-3 territorial units under them.

Geography

Southern Ireland incorporates the southern parts of the country, encompassing an area of . The region is located in the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

on the

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

, roughly to the left of the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The region does not share any international land borders, and borders the other two regions ( Northern and Western and Eastern and Midland) of Ireland to the north. It has along coastline along the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The topography of the region consists of central lowland valleys interspersed with mountainous terrain encircled by sandstone mountain ranges along the coast.

Sub-regions

The Southern Ireland region incorporates ten counties across three

– Mid-West, South-East, and South-West.

Demographics

Southern Ireland had a population of nearly 1.8 million in 2024, and is the second most populated of the three regions of Ireland. The region has a high

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

, and is classified as a ''more developed region'' under the eligibility classification for funding under the

European Regional Development Fund The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and se ...

and the European Social Fund Plus. The Southern Regional Assembly is one of three Regional Assemblies in Ireland which were established in 2015 following an amendment to the Local Government Act 1991, replacing the eight Regional Authorities. It is composed of members nominated by the local authorities in the region from its constituent local bodies. It has 33 members, 27 of whom are appointed by the

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

, and six

Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

representatives.

References

External links

Southern Regional Assembly
{{Local government in the Republic of Ireland NUTS statistical regions of the Republic of Ireland Local government in the Republic of Ireland Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage