Northern Ireland services sector grows in first quarter of 2026
Date published:
The Northern Ireland Index of Services (IOS) and Retail Sales Index (RSI) for Quarter 1 2026, published today by NISRA, show growth in the services sector.
Key findings
- Output for Northern Ireland's services industries increased by 0.9% in the first quarter of 2026 (January to March), while output for services industries across the UK increased by 0.8% over the same period.
- Since the first quarter of 2025, output for the Northern Ireland services industries has grown by 2.3%, compared with 1.4% for the UK services industries.
- Output for Northern Ireland’s services industries is now 11.3% higher than it was before the pandemic (Quarter 4 2019), compared to 8.4% growth for UK services industries as a whole.
- The largest growth in output over the quarter was in the financial and business services sector (4.1%), followed by the transport, storage, and communications sector (3.0%) and the other services sector (education, health, arts) which increased by 2.6%. In contrast, output for those industries in the wholesale, retail, accommodation and food services sector fell by 0.3%.
- Over the full year, output for the business services and finance sector rose by 8.4%, output for the transport, storage and communications sector rose by 2.7%, and output for the other services sector (education, health, arts) rose by 7.1%. The only sector to experience a drop was the wholesale, retail, accommodation and food services sector, which fell by 0.2%.
- Retail sales in Northern Ireland rose by 2.1% over the quarter and by 1.8% over the year. Northern Ireland's retail sector has shown greater growth since the pandemic than Great Britain. Output for Northern Ireland’s services industries is now 3.9% above its pre-pandemic level, while output for Great Britain's retail sector is still 0.7% below where it was before the pandemic.
About this publication
The quarterly Northern Ireland Index of Services (IOS) which is an Accredited Official Statistic provides a timely indicator of change in the volume of output within private sector services industries in Northern Ireland. Estimates are presented as constant prices and seasonally adjusted to provide better estimates of the overall trend. These estimates are calculated from the IOS element of the Quarterly Business Survey (QBS). This element has a sample size of approximately 3,700 businesses and covers four broad industry sectors:
- Business and financial services (SIC 07 Section KLMN)
- Wholesale, retail, accommodation and food services (SIC 07 Section GI)
- Other services (education, health & social work, arts, recreation) (SIC 07 Section PQRS)
- Transport, storage, information and communications (SIC 07 Section HJ)
The publication also includes the quarterly Northern Ireland Retail Sales Index (RSI) which is an official statistic in development. The RSI is a subset of the IOS and provides a timely indicator of change in the volume of output within the private retail service industries in Northern Ireland (NI). The retail sales sector refers to SIC 47 (Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles).
Further information
Read the full report: Northern Ireland Quarterly Index of Services
View background information and data tables: Index of Services