Europe · map by country
Data centres use 23.2% of Ireland's electricity, 5 times the next European country
Data centres used 23.2% of Ireland's electricity in 2025 (CSO), about 5 times the next figure in Europe, the Netherlands' 4.6% (CBS (Statistics Netherlands), 2024). Only 15 of 31 countries publish a figure or have a credible estimate, so the rest are hatched. Europe overall is about 3%, the US 4.4% (estimates). Switch to our data-centre count, power prices, AI chips or AI use.
Updated 12 October 2026 · data build 2026-10-10 · how we know · corrections
Data centres use 23.2% of Ireland's electricity; the next highest figure in Europe is 4.6%
Share of national electricity used by data centres, the latest figure each country has. Only 15 of 31 countries publish one or have a credible estimate; the others are hatched until a source appears. Reported
Data centres' share of national electricity
How to read this. 15 of 31 countries have a published figure or a credible estimate (9 estimate, 6 measured), on different bases: Belgium 4% (BCG, estimate, 2024); Germany 3.9% (Bitkom/Borderstep, estimate, 2024); Denmark 2.8% (Danish Energy Agency, estimate, 2024); Spain 2.4% (DNV, estimate, 2024); Finland 1.9% (Finnish Government, estimate, 2024); France 1% (SDES, measured, 2024); Ireland 23.2% (CSO (Ireland), measured, 2025); Italy 1.9% (Politecnico di Milano Energy & Strategy, estimate, 2024); Netherlands 4.6% (CBS (Statistics Netherlands), measured, 2024); Poland 1% (Warsaw Business Journal (article on the Polish Data Center Association and PSE's plan), estimate, 2025); Sweden 2.1% (Swedish Energy Agency (RISE), estimate, 2022); United Kingdom 2% (DESNZ (UK), measured, 2024); Norway 2.26% (Elhub, measured, 2025); Switzerland 3.6% (Swiss Federal Office of Energy (EnergieSchweiz study), estimate, 2024); Iceland 3.09% (Orkustofnun, measured, 2024). Bases differ (metered consumption, total consumption, demand or production) and so do years, so compare with care. EU Energy Efficiency Directive reports are not used here: they cover only sites that reported, so they are floors. Neither higher nor lower is better in itself.
Ireland: 23.2%, 1st of 15.
Source: National statistics offices, energy agencies and TSOs, and published estimates (see each country), via eu_scorecard · data for 2024 · pulled 2026-10-12 · reported · 15 of 31 countries with data · map: Natural Earth · Compiled by StackPath
Countries, ranked
Reference lines: Europe 3% · US 4.4%.
No figure (16): Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia.
Download CSV ↓Click a country for its profile. The measure you pick is kept in the address bar, so a link opens the same view. Open the full dashboard for tiles, ranked and stacked bars, regions and image downloads →
Our count: Iceland leads on data centres per person; Ireland is 2nd with 16.1 per million
Distinct data-centre sites mapped in OpenStreetMap, per million people, all 31 countries, 11 Oct 2026. Pick "Data centres per million" on the map above. Measured
What we counted: 4,280 data-centre sites worldwide in OpenStreetMap, 516 duplicates removed
Our own count, so it can be refreshed every week and checked by anyone. Measured
Every feature tagged telecom=data_center (the main OpenStreetMap tag for a data centre) or a building tagged data_center, worldwide, placed in a country with the Natural Earth outlines the map draws. We drop disused, demolished, proposed and under-construction features (73 under construction or proposed, 11 disused), and count a point, an unnamed outline or a building-only tag within 100 m of a site already counted as that same site. Separately named halls on one campus count separately, as directories count them.
Ireland: 94 features mapped, 88 sites after duplicates (5 removed, 1 under construction or proposed left out).
For comparison: a map shared on Reddit's r/MapPorn, built on DataCenterMap's directory and national statistics, put Ireland at 23.7 data centres per million people, second in Europe to Iceland (30.4). r/MapPorn chart (DataCenterMap data) (reported, as shared by the owner; not checked against DataCenterMap, whose directory is commercial).
Our reading. A per-person ranking rewards small countries with an internet hub, because the denominator is small (Iceland and Luxembourg sit in the top six with under a million people each). For weight on the grid, data-centre electricity is the better measure: 23.2% of Ireland's electricity (2025), against 4.6% in the Netherlands, the next highest of the 15 countries with a figure. It is the map's opening view.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Overpass API · World Bank population · as of 2026-10-11 · OSM data to 11 Oct 2026 · Compiled by StackPath
19 measures, each with its own source, date and coverage
Coverage is how many of the 31 countries have a figure. Gaps stay gaps: a country without a figure is hatched on the map, never filled in. Measured
Download every measure (CSV) ↓Data-centre electricity per person multiplies each country's published share by Ember demand; Ireland's uses the CSO's metered 7.66 TWh. "Neither" marks measures where more is not better in itself (more data centres also means more demand on the grid).
Questions people ask
- Which European country uses the most electricity for data centres?
- Ireland, by far: data centres used 23.2% of its metered electricity in 2025 (CSO). The next highest figure is the Netherlands at 4.6% (CBS (Statistics Netherlands), 2024). Only 15 of 31 European countries publish a figure or have a credible estimate, on different bases (metered consumption, demand or production), so compare with care.
- Which European country has the most data centres per person?
- On our count of OpenStreetMap (11 Oct 2026): Iceland (53.5), Ireland (16.1), Luxembourg (13.1), per million people. Cyprus and Malta have the fewest (none mapped). Small countries with an internet-exchange hub score high because the denominator is small.
- How many data centres does Ireland have?
- OpenStreetMap shows 88 distinct data-centre sites in Ireland (11 Oct 2026), or 16.1 per million people. Mapped sites are a floor; for the campuses with planning files and grid connections, see /data-centres.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- Data-centre counts are our own: every feature tagged as a data centre in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), pulled weekly, placed in countries with Natural Earth outlines, duplicates removed. Population is World Bank. Other measures come from Eurostat, Ember, Epoch AI, TOP500, the Anthropic Economic Index and EU sources, each named under the map with its date.
- Why do other maps show different numbers?
- Directories such as DataCenterMap list facilities their own way (and are commercial, so we don't copy them); OpenStreetMap shows what volunteers have mapped. Both miss some self-built hyperscaler sites. Ranks are steadier than levels: compare countries, not exact counts.
- Is Ireland cheap or expensive for large electricity users?
- Ireland's price for the largest users was €0.165/kWh (Eurostat band IG, 2026-S1), 24th cheapest of 26. On AI chips per million people, Ireland has no cluster in Epoch AI's database (16 European countries do).