2.2.2 Past trends in economic growth are illustrated in Figure 2.1 for both Northern Ireland and Ireland using the common measure of gross value added (GVA) per capita in constant prices.
It shows that for Ireland the pace of economic growth accelerated rapidly in the early 1990s from its earlier trend of low real growth,
whereas Northern Ireland exhibited a much lower growth rate throughout this period,
broadly tracking growth rates within the rest of the UK.
The expansion in economic growth in Ireland has been mirrored by the associated rapid increase in freight demand over the past 15 years.