How many people live in Ireland?
Irish people
The population of Ireland is about 6.3 million, but it is estimated that 50 to 80 million people around the world have Irish forebears, making the Irish diaspora one of the largest of any nation. Historically, emigration from Ireland has been the result of conflict, famine and economic issues. People of Irish descent are found mainly in English-speaking countries, especially Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia. There are also significant numbers in Argentina, Mexico and New Zealand. The United States has the most people of Irish descent, while in Australia those of Irish descent are a higher percentage of the population than in any other country outside Ireland. Many Icelanders have Irish and Scottish Gaelic forebears.
Official Ireland
Dr. Elaine Byrne has said ""Official Ireland is predominantly male, over 50 and earners over €100,000. For the most part, it includes the speakers at this MacGill summer school and those that attend it. Official Ireland is characterised by the sameness of people in positions of power which means a uniformity of decision-making. This closed-minded conformism dismisses and belittles anyone who opposes the group consensus.""
Outline of Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland – one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the northeast of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. At the time of the 2001 UK Census, its population was 1,685,000, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the population of the United Kingdom.
Republic of Ireland
In addition, 37 percent of Ireland's population has a university or college degree, which is among the highest percentages in the world.
Irish people
Many Irish people were also transported to the island of Montserrat, to work as indentured servants, exiled prisoners or slaves. Unlike African chattel slaves, the majority of Irish labourers who were sent to Montserrat did so by personal choice although they were tricked into doing so by the promise of payment and land of which they did not receive. Some were exiled by the English Oliver Cromwell due to the large Irish population and their attempted rebellion on 17 March 1768. To this day, the Island celebrates St. Patrick's Day as a public holiday to commemorate the event. People of Irish descent also feature strongly in Latin America, especially in Argentina and important minorities in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. In 1995, President Mary Robinson reached out to the "70 million people worldwide who can claim Irish descent". Today the diaspora is believed to contain an estimated 80 million people.
There are also large Irish communities in some mainland European countries, notably in Spain, France and Germany. Between 1585 and 1818, over half a million Irish departed Ireland to serve in the wars on the Continent, in a constant emigration romantically styled the ""Flight of the Wild Geese"" and, before that, in the 'Flight of the Earls', just before the Plantation of Ulster. In the early years of the English Civil War, a French traveller remarked that the Irish "are better soldiers abroad than at home". Later, Irish brigades in France and Spain fought in the Wars of the Spanish and Austrian Succession and the Napoleonic Wars. In the words of Field Marshal The 1st Duke of Wellington, the Irish-born 'Iron Duke', a notable representative of the Irish military diaspora, "Ireland was an inexhaustible nursery for the finest soldiers".
Irish people in mainland Europe
15,000 Irish live in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, where more than 1/2 million people regularly attend Irish music, cultural and sports events. These countries host the Nordic Feis annually, with Irish dancing schools from across the region and Irish Festivals. Irish societies and associations in Northern Europe actively arrange Irish literature, theatre, sport, music and dancing events across Scandinavia. The region hosts Irish & Celtic Studies Centres in Sweden and Denmark. Many of the more than 230 Irish Pubs have regular live Irish music, as well as live Irish sports coverage - GAA, Soccer and Rugby. Norway has a Celtic Irish association football club, Finland has a hurling club; Sweden and Denmark played each other in Gaelic football and in Hurling this past summer. Latvia hosts live GAA coverage.
History of Ireland
Subsequent Irish antagonism toward England was aggravated by the economic situation of Ireland in the 18th century. Some absentee landlords managed their estates inefficiently, and food tended to be produced for export rather than for domestic consumption. Two very cold winters near the end of the Little Ice Age led directly to a famine between 1740 and 1741, which killed about 400,000 people and caused over 150,000 Irish to leave the island. In addition, Irish exports were reduced by the Navigation Acts from the 1660s, which placed tariffs on Irish products entering England, but exempted English goods from tariffs on entering Ireland. Despite this most of the 18th century was relatively peaceful in comparison with the preceding two centuries, and the population doubled to over four million.
Irish language
There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language. These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht, or in the plural as "Gaeltachtaí". While the Gaeltacht's fluent Irish speakers, whose numbers have been estimated at twenty or thirty thousand, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues, to some extent, to be spoken as a community vernacular.
Northern Ireland
The population of Northern Ireland has risen yearly since 1978. The population in 2011 was 1.8 million, having grown 7.5% over the previous decade from just under 1.7 million in 2001. This constitutes just under 3% of the population of the UK (62 million) and just over 28% of the population of the island of Ireland (6.3 million).
Modern Paganism
Census figures in Ireland do not provide a breakdown of religions outside of the major Christian denominations and other major world religions. A total of 22,497 people stated Other Religion in the 2006 census; and a rough estimate is that there were 2,000–3,000 practicing pagans in Ireland in 2009. Numerous pagan groups – primarily Wiccan and Druidic – exist in Ireland though none is officially recognised by the Government. Irish Paganism is often strongly concerned with issues of place and language.
Irish Travellers
An estimated 10,000 people in the United States are descendants of Travellers who left Ireland, mostly between 1845 and 1860 during the Great Famine. However, there are no official population figures regarding Irish Travellers in the United States as the US census does not recognise them as an ethnic group. While some sources estimate their population in the US to be 10,000, others suggest their population is 40,000. According to research published in 1992, Irish travellers in the US divide themselves up into groups that are based on historical residence: Ohio Travellers, Georgia Travellers, Texas Travellers, and Mississippi Travellers. The Georgia Travelers' camp is made up of about eight hundred families, the Mississippi Travelers, about three hundred families, and the Texas Travelers, under fifty families."
Protestantism in the Republic of Ireland
In regards to immigration, of the 137,048 people from the three main Protestant denominations (Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist) to declare their country of birth, only 94,889 (69.2%) stated the Republic. 27,928 of these immigrants came from the United Kingdom, whilst 3,575 were born in the rest of Europe, 6,641 were from Africa, 1,341 from Asia, 1,730 from America, and 944 from elsewhere.
Republic of Ireland
The average life expectancy in Ireland in 2012 is 81 years (OECD average life expectancy in 2012 was 80 years), with 78.2 years for men and 83.6 years for women. It has the highest birth rate in the EU (16.8 births per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to an EU average of 10.7) and a very low infant mortality rate (3.5 per 1,000 live births). The Irish healthcare system ranked 13th out of 34 European countries in 2012 according to the European Health Consumer Index produced by Health Consumer Powerhouse. The same report ranked the Irish healthcare system as having the 8th best health outcomes but only the 21st most accessible system in Europe.
Government of Ireland
The public service in Ireland refers to the totality of public administration in Ireland. As of Q3, 2016 the total number of employees in the Irish public service stands at 304,472 people. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform defines the public service as comprising seven sectors: the Civil Service, Defence Sector, Education Sector, Health Sector, Justice Sector, Local Authorities and Non-Commercial State Agencies; such as Bord Bia, IDA Ireland and the Commission for Energy Regulation. Commercial state-owned bodies such as RTÉ, ESB Group and An Post are not considered part of the public service in Ireland.
Homelessness in Ireland
Spokespersons of the Irish government stated in 2013 that they would have "eradicated homelessness" in Ireland by 2016. However, this goal was not achieved, and as of 2017, the issue and prevalence of homelessness has increased. Figures published during 2016 and early 2017 indicated that there were then 4,377 people living in emergency accommodation, the highest figure seen in Ireland to that date. A "Homelessness Report" by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government in November 2016, indicated that the issue was most prevalent in the Dublin area, but with hundreds of homeless families and individuals in other regions also. Commentators have attributed the ongoing events (described in the news media as the 'homelessness crisis') to the post-2008 Irish economic downturn and 'subsequent fiscal adjustments', and the parallel impacts of reduced familial incomes, mortgage arrears and rental increases which followed impacts to housing supply.
Irish population analysis
Between 1780 and 1840, Ireland experienced rapid population growth, rising from about 3 million in 1780 to over 8 million by 1840. In 1841, the population of the area now covering the Republic of Ireland was over 6.5 million people. The subsequent Great Famine and the emigration it caused had a dramatic effect, so that by 1871, the 26-county population had dropped by over a third to four million, and by 1926 had reduced further to three million. It held firm around three million until the early 1970s, when the population began to rise again. Future predictions are for the population to continue to rise until 2031 when it is predicted to be just over five million. The country of Ireland is one of the few remaining developed economies to have growth of this scale.
Status of the Irish language
Irish is a main home, work or community language for approximately 2% of the population of the Republic of Ireland; the population of the Republic of Ireland was shown as 4,761,865 in the 2016 census.
The 2011 census in Northern Ireland showed that Irish is the home language of 0.2% of people, with 6% of people able to speak Irish to varying degrees (see Irish language in Northern Ireland). One in four people (~1.7 million) on the island of Ireland claims to understand Irish to some extent. Estimates of fully native Irish language speakers range from 40,000 up to 80,000 people. Areas in which the language remains a vernacular are referred to as "Gaeltacht" areas.
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann has 158 members; the number has occasionally been changed within the limits of the Constitution of Ireland, which sets a minimum ratio of one member per 20,000 of the population, and a maximum of one per 30,000. Under current legislation, members are directly elected at least once in every five years by the people of Ireland under a system of proportional representation known as the single transferable vote. Membership of the Dáil is open to Irish citizens who are 21 or older. A member of the Dáil is known as a "Teachta Dála", "TD" or "Deputy".
Jainism in Europe
The Jain community in Ireland is involved across different occupations. 
The Jains in Ireland are estimated to be around 1000 people. The majority live in and around Dublin but few families are spread across other part of countries including Northern Ireland. Jains in Ireland are well settled and respected community. Jain Samaj Ireland consists members of all different panths within Jainism.
Demographics of the Republic of Ireland
Ethnic backgrounds: White Irish: 82.2%, White Irish Traveller: 0.7%, Other White: 9.5% (total White: 92.4%), Asian: 2.1%, Black: 1.3%, Other: 1.5%, Not Stated: 2.6% (2016)
Irish people
People of Irish descent are also one of the largest self-reported ethnic groups in Canada, after English, French and Scottish Canadians. As of 2006, Irish Canadians number around 4,354,155.
Irish language
The following 2016 census data shows:The total number of people who answered ‘yes’ to being able to speak Irish in April 2016 was 1,761,420, a slight decrease (0.7 per cent) on the 2011 figure of 1,774,437. This represents 39.8 per cent of respondents compared with 41.4 in 2011... Of the 73,803 daily Irish speakers (outside the education system), 20,586 (27.9%) lived in Gaeltacht areas.
South Asian people in Ireland
As the Irish government does not collect detailed data on ethnicity in Ireland, population estimates vary, and non-Chinese Asian people are generally grouped in one category rather than groups based on people from individual South Asian countries. Estimates say that people of South Asian ethnicity make up around 1 to 3% of Ireland's population. The Irish-India Council estimates that there are approximately 91,520 Indian-born people in Ireland.
Human rights in Ireland
On Friday 25 May, Irish citizens voted on a referendum to determine whether the Eighth Amendment would be repealed. The "Referendum on the Thirty Sixth Amendment", asked Irish citizens to change the law's focus on,"the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother," to become, "Provision may be made by law for the regulation of termination of pregnancy." 3,367,556 Irish citizens participated in the referendum. The votes returned a verdict to repeal the Eighth Amendment, 66.4% to 33.6%. The results of the referendum entailed that the Irish Parliament would begin to legislate and reform abortion laws in the country. The referendum addressed one of the key areas of human rights concern found by The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.
1961 in Ireland
Cork's population reaches an all-time low, with just 330,000 living there.The population in the late 1950s was 336,000.
Limerick
Limerick is officially the third largest city in Ireland (after Dublin and Cork) with a population of 94,192 (urban)/104,952 (metropolitan) according to the 2016 census carried out by the CSO. The past census reported a large population decline in central city areas due in part to the Limerick regeneration process where in these areas the largest reduction was reported nationally and also to outward migration following the collapse of the local and national economy from 2008 onwards. The population of the Limerick Larger Urban Zone as defined by the EU is 162,413. Limerick has a notably ethnically diverse population, and a large immigrant community, which saw especially rapid growth during the Celtic Tiger and the following decade. The Polish community is the second largest outside Dublin, with an estimated 10,000 living and working in the city. Ireland's first Polish bank opened in 2007. The African community has set up a number of churches, which are now part of the cultural makeup of the city.
Demography of the United Kingdom
The first Census in 1801 revealed that the population of Great Britain was 10.5 million. In 1800, the population of Ireland was between 4.5 and 5.5 million.
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland experienced a major decline in membership during the 20th century, both in Northern Ireland, where around 65% of its members live, and in the Republic of Ireland. The church is still the second-largest in the Republic of Ireland, with around 126,400 members in 2016 (minus 2% compared to the 2011 census results) and the third-largest in Northern Ireland, with around 260,000 members.
Islam in the Republic of Ireland
The Muslim community in Ireland is diverse and growing rapidly, and its numbers are not determined by the country's history to the same extent as the UK and France, where the majority of Muslims are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from former colonies, or Germany and Austria, where the majority of Muslims are Turkish migrant workers and their descendants. Just over 55 per cent of Muslims were either Asian or African nationals with 30.7 per cent having Irish nationality. The census also revealed that of the 31,779 Muslims resident in Ireland at the time of the census, 9,761 were Irish nationals, less than the number of Asians (10,649) although more than the 6,909 African nationals. The census of 2011 found there were 49,204 Muslims in Ireland, "a sharp rise on five years previously". The Muslim immigration at the end of the 90s was caused by the Irish economic boom and asylum seekers from diverse Muslim countries, and in the 20-year period between 1991 and 2011 the Muslim population increased 1000%, from 0.1% to 1.1% of the population of the republic.
Race Life of the Aryan Peoples
Today, as of 2011, the total population of the "Indo-European peoples" is approximately 2,405,000,000 people, of which over half, about 1,334,000,000, are those belonging to the Eastern branch of the Indo-European peoples, i.e., the "Indo-Iranian peoples"; and the rest, about 1,071,000,000, are those belonging to the Western branch of the Indo-European peoples, the "European peoples". List of ethnolinguistic groups with populations
Religion in the Republic of Ireland
In the 2016 census, 78.8% (3.7 million) of the population identified as Catholic which is 132,220 fewer than 5 years earlier in 2011 when the percentage stood at 84%.
Mid-West Region, Ireland
The Mid-West region has a population of 473,269 which constitutes about 9.94% of Ireland's total population.
English people
From the earliest times English people have left England to settle in other parts of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but it is not possible to identify their numbers, as British censuses have historically not invited respondents to identify themselves as English. However, the census does record place of birth, revealing that 8.08% of Scotland's population, 3.66% of the population of Northern Ireland and 20% of the Welsh population were born in England. Similarly, the census of the Republic of Ireland does not collect information on ethnicity, but it does record that there are over 200,000 people living in Ireland who were born in England and Wales.
Irish diaspora
Today, millions of residents of Great Britain are either from the island of Ireland or have Irish ancestry. It is estimated that as many as six million people living in the UK have an Irish-born grandparent (around 10% of the UK population).
Religion in the Republic of Ireland
The earliest recorded presence of Jews in Ireland was in 1079 in the Annals of Inisfallen. As of 2016, the Jewish population is 2,557.
Disability in Northern Ireland
Other key policies and legislation include:The Northern Ireland 2011 Census, undertaken by Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), reported that of a Northern Ireland population of 1,810,863; 20.6% (374,646) reported that their day-to-day activities were limited because of a long-standing health problem or disability. This is comparable to the national figures from the census in Great Britain which reported 17.6% of the population in England, 22.7% in Wales and 20% in Scotland. Similar to all nations of the UK, this Northern Ireland baseline figure varies within regions depending on a number of demographic, health, environmental and economic factors. In Northern Ireland, Strabane and Belfast (both at 24 per cent) had the highest proportions of residents with a long-term health problem or disability.
History of the Jews in Ireland
There was an increase in Jewish immigration to Ireland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1871, the Jewish population of Ireland was 258; by 1881, it had risen to 453. Most of the immigration up to this time had come from England or Germany. A group who settled in Waterford were Welsh, whose families originally came from Central Europe. In the wake of the Russian pogroms there was increased immigration, mostly from Eastern Europe (in particular Lithuania). By 1901, there were an estimated 3,771 Jews in Ireland, over half of them (2,200) residing in Dublin. By 1904, the total Jewish population had reached an estimated 4,800. New synagogues and schools were established to cater for the immigrants, many of whom established shops and other businesses. Many of the following generation became prominent in business, academic, political and sporting circles.
Geography of Ireland
In Northern Ireland, a major re-organisation of local government in 1973 replaced the six traditional counties and two county boroughs (Belfast and Derry) by 26 single-tier districts, which, apart from Fermanagh cross the traditional county boundaries. The six counties and two county-boroughs remain in use for purposes such as Lieutenancy. In November 2005, proposals were announced which would see the number of local authorities reduced to seven.
The island's total population of approximately 6 million people is concentrated on the east coast, particularly in Dublin and Belfast and their surrounding areas.
Demography of Northern Ireland
Like Great Britain (but unlike most of the Republic of Ireland), Northern Ireland has a plurality of Protestants (48% of the resident population are either Protestant, or brought up Protestant, while 45% of the resident population are either Catholic, or brought up Catholic, according to the 2011 census) and its people speak dialects of English heavily influenced by the Scots language. This is both because of historic links with Scotland going back centuries, and because of settlements of lowland Scots Protestants in Ulster in the 17th century, such as the Plantation of Ulster. Also unlike the Republic, a large proportion of people in Northern Ireland have a British national identity. Many people in Northern Ireland have a Northern Irish identity, whether in addition to a British or Irish identity or by itself.
Irish people
In the Republic of Ireland, as of 2011, 3,861,335 people or about 84.16% of the population are Roman Catholic. In Northern Ireland about 41.6% of the population are Protestant (19.1% Presbyterian, 13.7% Church of Ireland, 3.0% Methodist, 5.8% Other Christian) whilst approximately 40.8% are Catholic as of 2011.
The 31st International Eucharistic Congress was held in Dublin in 1932, that year being the supposed 1,500th anniversary of Saint Patrick's arrival. Ireland was then home to 3,171,697 Catholics, about a third of whom attended the Congress. It was noted in "Time Magazine" that the Congress' special theme would be "the Faith of the Irish". The massive crowds were repeated at Pope John Paul II's Mass in Phoenix Park in 1979. The idea of faith has affected the question of Irish identity even in relatively recent times, apparently more so for Catholics and Irish-Americans. Today the majority of Irish people in the Republic of Ireland identify as Catholic, although church attendance have significantly dropped in recent decades. In Northern Ireland, where almost 50% of the population is Protestant, there has also been a decline in attendances.
Irreligion in the Republic of Ireland
According to the 2016 Irish Census, approximately 9.5% of Irish citizens are irreligious.
Diocese of Connor (Church of Ireland)
Based on Census figures, more than 100,000 self-described adherents of the Church of Ireland live in the Diocese, making it home to the largest Anglican population of any Irish diocese and more than one in four members of the Church of Ireland. It is unusual in being the only Church of Ireland diocese where Presbyteriansm, rather than Roman Catholicism is the religious denomination of a plurality of the population.
Marc Coleman
He incorporated these warnings in a controversially titled book "The Best is Yet to Come" which repeated warnings about a possible crash (chapters 3,4 and 5) but stressed a positive view of Ireland's capacity to recover by 2020. The book forecast that strong growth in Ireland's population would continue through the crisis. Between 2006 and 2013 Ireland's population rose from 4.2 to 4.6 million (Census 2011, CSO). Coleman maintains this will provide a basis for restored prosperity by 2020.
Irish diaspora
The Government of Ireland defines the Irish diaspora as all persons of Irish nationality who habitually reside outside of the island of Ireland. This includes Irish citizens who have emigrated abroad and their children, who are Irish citizens by descent under Irish law. It also includes their grandchildren in cases where they were registered as Irish citizens in the Foreign Births Register held in every Irish diplomatic mission. Under this legal definition, the Irish diaspora is considerably smaller—some 3 million persons, of whom 1.47 million are Irish-born emigrants. Given Ireland's population of 4.85 million, this is still a large ratio.
However, the usage of "Irish diaspora" is generally not limited by citizenship status, thus leading to an estimated (and fluctuating) membership of up to 80 million persons—the second and more emotive definition. The Irish Government acknowledged this interpretation—although it did not acknowledge any legal obligations to persons in this larger diaspora—when Article 2 of the Constitution of Ireland was amended in 1998 to read ""[f]urthermore, the Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage.""
Ireland
Emigration from Ireland in the 19th century contributed to the populations of England, the United States, Canada and Australia, in all of which a large Irish diaspora lives. , 4.3 million Canadians, or 14% of the population, are of Irish descent, while around one third of the Australian population has an element of Irish descent.
County Cork
Cork city is the only city in the county and the second most populous city in the Republic of Ireland, with a population of 125,657 according to the 2016 census. Cork city is the third most populous city on the island of Ireland. According to the 2006 Census statistics, the county has 11 towns with a population of over 4,000. The county has a population density of 72 persons/km. A large percentage of the population live in urban areas.
Border Region
The Border Region is a NUTS Level III statistical region of the Republic of Ireland. The name of the region refers to its location along the Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border. It is not a cross-border region, as it comprises the Irish counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan and Sligo. The Border Region spans 11,516 km, 16.4% of the total area of the state, and has a population of 392,837 persons, 8.28% of the state total. Its NUTS code is IE041.
Republic of Ireland
Religious freedom is constitutionally provided for in Ireland. Christianity is the predominant religion, and while Ireland remains a predominantly Catholic country, the percentage of the population who identified as Catholic on the census has fallen sharply from 84.2 percent in the 2011 census to 78.3 percent in the most recent 2016 census. Other results from the 2016 census are : 4.2% Protestant, 1.3% as Muslim, and 9.8% as having no religion. According to a Georgetown University study, before 2000 the country had one of the highest rates of regular Mass attendance in the Western world.
While daily attendance was 13% in 2006, there was a reduction in weekly attendance from 81% in 1990 to 48% in 2006, although the decline was reported as stabilising. In 2011, it was reported that weekly Mass attendance in Dublin was just 18%, with it being even lower among younger generations.
Filipinos in Ireland
Filipinos in Ireland consist largely of migrant workers in the health care sector, though others work in tourism and information technology. From just 500 individuals in 1999, they had grown to a population of 11,500 by 2007, a 2200% expansion in just eight years. These nurses form the largest category of non-European Union workers in the Republic of Ireland. According to Census 2011, there are 12,791 people of Filipino origin living in the state.
Ireland
Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. In 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.6 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.8 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just over 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
LGBT culture in Ireland
The gay scene in Ireland is quite developed. Irish society has become more open and tolerant as a result of increased levels of prosperity and rising liberal attitudes. Indeed, many foreigners comment that for such a small island nation of 6 million, there's so much going on, with vibrant gay scenes in all major Irish cities:There are 8 gay & lesbian resource centres in Ireland – one each in Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Derry, Waterford and Dundalk. Cork is home to two: one for gay men and one for lesbians.
Both Lives Matter
Both Lives Matter conducted a billboard campaign in two locations in Northern Ireland in January 2017 featuring the headline: "100,000 people are alive today because of our laws on abortion. Why change that?". This refers to abortions not performed due to Northern Ireland's exclusion from the Abortion Act, passed in 1967. In response to the placement of the billboards, 14 complaints were being lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority, which were dismissed on the grounds that while the claim was an "estimate", "On balance, we concluded that the evidence indicated that there was a reasonable probability that around 100,000 people were alive in Northern Ireland today who would have otherwise been aborted had it been legal to do so".
Irish migration to Great Britain
In 2001, there were 674,786 people in England (1.4 per cent of the population) who had been born in Ireland. This is the greatest concentration of Irish-born—as distinct from persons of Irish ancestry—abroad anywhere in the world and was equivalent to 12.1% of the population of the island of Ireland (5.6 million) in 2001.
Irish diaspora
The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages, but it is only possible to quantify it from around 1700: since then between 9 and 10 million people born in Ireland have emigrated. This is more than the population of Ireland at its historical peak in the 1840s of 8.5 million. The poorest of them went to Great Britain, especially Liverpool; those who could afford it went further, including almost 5 million to the United States.
Irish diaspora
The term Irish diaspora is open to many interpretations. The diaspora, broadly interpreted, contains all those known to have Irish ancestors, i.e., over 100 million people, which is more than fifteen times the population of the island of Ireland, which was about 4.6 million in 2011. It has been argued the idea of an Irish diaspora, as distinct from the old identification of Irishness with Ireland itself, was influenced by the perceived advent of global mobility and modernity. Irishness could now be identified with dispersed individuals and groups of Irish descent. But many of those individuals were the product of complex ethnic intermarriage in America and elsewhere, complicating the idea of a single line of descent. "Irishness" might then rely primarily on individual identification with an Irish diaspora.
History of the Republic of Ireland
In the 1930s, Fianna Fáil governments attempted to create Irish domestic industries using subsidies and protective tariffs. In the late 1950s, these policies were dropped in favour of free trade with selected countries and encouraging of foreign investment with low taxes. This was expanded when Ireland entered the European Economic Community in 1973. In the 1990s and 2000s, Ireland experienced an economic boom known as the Celtic Tiger, in which the country's GDP surpassed many of its European neighbours. Immigration also surpassed emigration, bringing the state's population up to over 4 million. However, since 2008, Ireland has experienced a severe crisis in the banking sector and with sovereign debt. The resultant economic slump has deepened the effect of the world recession on Ireland.
Demographics of the Republic of Ireland
The Republic of Ireland is a predominantly Christian country. The majority are Roman Catholic, although parts of County Donegal in Ulster, especially East Donegal and Inishowen, have a significant Protestant minority. However, the number of people who declare themselves Catholic has been declining in recent years and the number of people who are practising Catholics is smaller than the declared number. As of the 2016 census, 78.3% were Catholic, a drop of 5.8% since 2011. Conversely, irreligion has almost doubled since 2011 with 9.8% declaring 'No Religion' in 2016, overtaking Protestantism as the second largest group in the state. The various Protestant and other Christian faiths represent 5.6%, Islam 1.3%, other religions 2.4% and 2.6% gave no answer.
Irish diaspora
With its newly established trans-Atlantic empire, England needed labour. After the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the Kingdom of England began to pacify Ireland through ethnic cleansing, transporting large numbers of Irish, often forced into indentured servitude, to the New World. This increased following the English Civil War (1642–1651) and the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland (1649–1653). Cromwell took Irish land both to repay investors who had financed the invasion and as payment for his soldiers, and the ethnic Irish were ordered to move to Connaught or die. Between 1641 and 1652, over 550,000 Irish died from famine and other war-related causes. The Irish population of Ireland fell from 1,466,000 to 616,000. Between 1652 and 1659, 50,000 Irish men, women and children were sent to the West Indies, Virginia and Bermuda.
Ireland
The population of Ireland rose rapidly from the 16th century until the mid-19th century, interrupted briefly by the Famine of 1740-41, which killed roughly two fifths of the island's population. The population rebounded and multiplied over the next century, but another devastating famine in the 1840s caused one million deaths and forced over one million more to emigrate in its immediate wake. Over the following century the population was reduced by over half, at a time when the general trend in European countries was for populations to rise by an average of three-fold.
Irish people in mainland Europe
With a jobless rate just over 5 per cent, the second-lowest in the EU, Germany is becoming a magnet for Irish people. Over 2,800 people moved to Germany from Ireland in 2012 including almost 800 German citizens according to statistics. About 30,000 Irish live in Germany. Together with Germans interested in Irish culture, some of these emigrants organise Irish cultural events across the country. Most German cities have at least one Irish pub, although they typically feature a mixture of German and Irish pub culture.
Irish Travellers
As of 2016, there are 30,987 Travellers within Ireland, and this has led to them becoming recognized as a minority group in Ireland.
Status of the Irish language
According to the 2016 Republic of Ireland census 73,803 people speak the Irish language daily in the Republic of Ireland outside the education system including 20,586 people who speak it every day in the Gaeltacht outside the education system. However, only 8,068 census 2016 forms were completed in Irish. Some Irish speakers have called for the census form to be provided solely in bilingual format every five years to make the Irish language version easier for Irish-speaking citizens to avail of.
Republic of Ireland
The population of Ireland stood at 4,588,252 in 2011, an increase of 8.2% since 2006. , Ireland had the highest birth rate in the European Union (16 births per 1,000 of population). In 2014, 36.3% of births were to unmarried women. Annual population growth rates exceeded 2% during the 2002-2006 intercensal period, which was attributed to high rates of natural increase and immigration. This rate declined somewhat during the subsequent 2006-2011 intercensal period, with an average annual percentage change of 1.6%.
Demographics of the Republic of Ireland
Figures from the CSO.
Irish (including dual-Irish/other): 86.9%, UK: 2.5%, Other EU 27: 6.1%, Other Europe: 0.7%, Asia: 1.5%, Africa: 0.9%, USA: 0.2%, Other countries: 0.5%, Multiple nationality: 0.1%, Not stated: 1.2% (2011)Below are the 14 largest immigrant groups in the Republic of Ireland according to the 2016 census.
Ireland
People have lived in Ireland for over 9,000 years. The different eras are termed mesolithic, neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.
Black people in Ireland
At the time of the 2001 UK Census, of the total population (1,685,267); 255 people described their ethnicity as Black Caribbean, 494 as Black African and 387 as Other Black, meaning that the total Black population was 1,136. These figures do not include individuals who described themselves as being of mixed-race. The next UK census is to be performed in 2011.
Irish people in mainland Europe
There are approximately 500,000 Irish people living in Continental Europe. There were 3,900,000 Irish trips to Continental Europe in 2006, according to the Central Statistics Office (Ireland).
While the Irish population in Continental Europe is about 450,000-550,000, there are an estimated 2.8 million first, second and third generation Irish based there. There are an estimated 5 million people with active interests in Irish music, Irish sports, Irish dancing, Irish culture and Irish literature. For example, Poland's Irish Embassy has confirmed that while there are approx. 500 Irish residents in the country, there are between 50,000 and 100,000 people involved in the Irish music, dancing and cultural scene. Italy with an estimated Irish population of 2000 to 5000, has a website, receiving 100,000 regular visitors – all content is just in Italian, and mostly covered Irish music and culture in Italy. Similar levels of interest in Irish culture exist across Europe, with a new Irish centre opened this year in Istanbul, Turkey, and more than 650 Irish pubs found in Germany, and widespread interest in Irish dancing in Scandinavia, such as the St. Patrick Day's festival held on March 17 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Chinese people in Ireland
According to a 2004 article by "The Guardian", there were 65,000 legal Chinese workers in Ireland, with half of them residing in Dublin. 4,000 of them lived within a half-mile radius of Dublin's Smithfield area.
The All Ireland Talent Show
Five judges take part and each regional judge, with the assistance of two other personalities who then disappear from the show, select five acts to be put forward to the live studio heats. In the second season this was changed to eight acts. Louis Walsh was approached to act as a judge before series one but refused to commit. On the opening night of series one, "The All Ireland Talent Show" had over 500,000 viewers, with Ireland only having a population of over 4 million people. (NB: Ireland is an island consisting of 32 counties, and the population of Ireland as a whole is estimated to be 6.2 million. however, the viewing figures only relate to the 26 counties of the Republic.) The opening is similar to the "Got Talent" series. The twenty-five finalists in series one competed for a first prize of €50,000, which was eventually won by the Mulkerrin Brothers of the Aran Islands.
Broadstone, Dublin
The [[Great Irish Famine]] of the mid-19th century had caused a huge wave of emigration, and the population of Ireland was reduced from about 8 million in the 1830s to around 4 million a century later. The worst hit were the rural population of the west, precisely the market of the MGWR. There was a brief period of boom in the 1870s as the flow of people from the west peaked, but as the people left, traffic in the other direction reduced markedly. As emigration gradually came to a halt, so did the canal system.
Outline of the Republic of Ireland
Ireland is one of the richest, most developed and peaceful countries on earth, having the fifth highest gross domestic product per capita, second highest gross domestic product (purchasing power parity) per capita and having the fifth highest Human Development Index rank. The country also has the highest quality of life in the world, ranking first in the Economist Intelligence Unit's Quality-of-life index. Ireland was ranked fourth on the Global Peace Index. Ireland also has high rankings for its education system, political freedom and civil rights, press freedom and economic freedom; it was also ranked fourth from the bottom on the Failed States Index, being one of the few "sustainable" states in the world.
Irish people in mainland Europe
Approximately 5,000 Irish live in Central Europe, and this figure is growing annually. In Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic, there are more than 150,000 regular visitors to Celtic music, Irish music, Irish dancing, and Irish culture websites based there, a region with more than 100 Irish music bands, Irish dancing schools and Irish/Celtic festivals. The Slovak Irish have a dedicated newspaper published regularly. There are more than 60 Irish pubs in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, one with an Irish golf society, one with a rugby club, others with darts and soccer clubs. The first ever GAA club was inaugurated in the region earlier this year. Irish charity groups also have centres and communities based in the region.
Prisons in the Republic of Ireland
There are 12 prisons in the Republic of Ireland with a total bed capacity of 4,106 as of 31 December 2009. The daily average number of prisoners in custody in 2009 was 3,881. However, most of these prisons currently operate at or above capacity. On 25 January 2011 the prison population stood at 4,541. There was about 80 per 100,000 inhabitants in October 2015, and in Northern Ireland it was 78 per 100,000 in February 2016.
History of the Irish language
Today, estimates of fully native speakers range from 40,000 to 80,000 people. In the republic, there are just over 72,000 people who use Irish as a daily language outside education, as well as a larger minority of the population who are fluent but do not use it on a daily basis. (While census figures indicate that 1.66 million people in the republic have some knowledge of the language, a significant percentage of these know only a little.) Smaller numbers of Irish speakers exist in Britain, Canada (particularly in Newfoundland), the United States of America and other countries.
Republic of Ireland
At the time of the 2016 census, the number of non-Irish nationals was recorded at 535,475. This represents a 2% decrease from the 2011 census figure of 544,357. The five largest sources of non-Irish nationals were Poland (122,515), the UK (103,113), Lithuania (36,552), Romania (29,186) and Latvia (19,933) respectively. Compared with 2011, the number of UK, Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian nationals fell. There were four new additions to the top ten largest non-Irish nationalities in 2016: Brazilian (13,640), Spanish (12,112), Italian (11,732), and French (11,661).
History of the Republic of Ireland
By the early 2000s, the Republic had become the second richest (in terms of GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity) member of the European Union, had moved from being a net recipient of EU funds to a net contributor, and from a position of net emigration to one of net immigration. In 2005, its "per capita" GDP (adjusted for purchasing power parity) became the second highest in the world (behind Switzerland) with 10 percent of the population born abroad. The population grew to an all-time high for the state of about 4.5 million.
Catholic Church in Ireland
The Catholic Church in Ireland () is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See. With 3.7 million members, it is the largest Christian church in Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland's 2016 census, 78% of the population identified as Catholic, which represents a decrease of 6% from 2011. By contrast, 45% of Northern Ireland identified as Catholic at the 2011 census, a percentage that is expected to increase in the coming years. The Primate of All Ireland is the Archbishop of Armagh. The Church is administered on an all-Ireland basis. The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference is a consultative body for ordinaries in Ireland.
Ireland
The Republic of Ireland in particular has seen large-scale immigration, with 420,000 foreign nationals as of 2006, about 10% of the population. A quarter of births (24 percent) in 2009 were to mothers born outside Ireland. Chinese and Nigerians, along with people from other African countries, have accounted for a large proportion of the non–European Union migrants to Ireland. Up to 50,000 eastern and central European migrant workers left Ireland in response to the Irish financial crisis.
Gaeltacht
At the time of the 2006 census of the Republic of Ireland, the population of the Gaeltacht was 91,862, approximately 2.1% of the state's 4,239,848 people, with major concentrations of Irish speakers located in the western counties of Donegal, Mayo, Galway, and Kerry. There were smaller concentrations in the counties of Cork and Waterford in the south and Meath in the east. The most recent census of 2016 however shows that the population of the Gaeltacht was 96,090. This shows a rise of 4.5% from 2006.
The Gaeltacht districts have historically suffered from mass migration. Being at the edge of the island they always had fewer railways and roads, and poorer land to farm. Other influences have been the arrival of non-Irish speaking families, the marginal role of the Irish language in the education system and general pressure from the English-speaking community. There is no evidence that periods of relative prosperity have materially improved the situation of the language.
Irish population analysis
The population of the 6 counties of Northern Ireland as of 2016 is 1,851,600 which would mean a total population on the island of Ireland as of mid-2016 of approximately 6,609,576. This means the population of the island of Ireland has, for the first time in 165 years, exceeded the population recorded in the Census of 1851, the first census immediately after the Great Famine, when the population of the island was recorded at 6,575,000.
History of the Jews in Ireland
According to the 2016 Irish census, Ireland had 2,557 Jews by religion in 2016, of whom 1,439 (56%) lived in its capital, Dublin.
Ireland
City status in Ireland is decided by legislative or royal charter. Dublin, with over 1 million residents in the Greater Dublin Area, is the largest city on the island. Belfast, with 579,726 residents, is the largest city in Northern Ireland. City status does not directly equate with population size. For example, Armagh, with 14,590 is the seat of the Church of Ireland and the Roman Catholic Primate of All Ireland and was re-granted city status by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 (having lost that status in local government reforms of 1840). In the Republic of Ireland, Kilkenny, seat of the Butler dynasty, while no longer a city for administrative purposes (since the 2001 Local Government Act), is entitled by law to continue to use the description.
Census of Ireland 2011
The Census of Ireland 2011 was held on Sunday, 10 April 2011. It was administered by the Central Statistics Office of Ireland and found the population to be 4,588,252 people. Before the census, the latest population estimate was published in September 2010 and calculated that the Irish population had been 4,470,700 in April 2010. The previous census took place five years earlier, on Sunday, 23 April 2006.
List of Irish counties by population
For a more detailed analysis of current and historical Irish populations in the Republic of Ireland, see Irish population analysis. The population of the six counties of Northern Ireland as of 2011 is 1,810,863 which would mean a total population on the island of Ireland as of 2016 of approximately 6,568,839
Great Famine (Ireland)
The 1841 census showed a population of just over eight million. Two-thirds of those depended on agriculture for their survival, but they rarely received a working wage. They had to work for their landlords in return for the patch of land they needed to grow enough food for their own families. This was the system which forced Ireland and its peasantry into monoculture, since only the potato could be grown in sufficient quantity. The rights to a plot of land in Ireland could mean the difference between life and death in the early 19th century.
Irish Australians
There is no definitive figure of the total number of Australians with an Irish background. At the 2011 Australian census, 2,087,800 residents identified themselves as having Irish ancestry either alone or in combination with another ancestry. This nominated ancestry was third behind English and Australian in terms of the largest number of responses and represents 10.4% of the total population of Australia. However this figure does not include Australians with an Irish background who chose to nominate themselves as 'Australian' or other ancestries. The Australian embassy in Dublin states that up to 30% of the population claim some degree of Irish ancestry.
Goidelic languages
Irish is one of the Republic of Ireland's two official languages along with English. Historically the predominant language of the island, it is now mostly spoken in parts of the south, west, and northwest. The legally defined Irish-speaking areas are called the ; all government institutions of the Republic, in particular the parliament ('), its upper house (') and lower house ('), and the prime minister (') are officially named in this language, even in the context of English. At present, the are primarily found in Counties Cork, Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, and, to a lesser extent, in Waterford and Meath. In the Republic of Ireland 1,774,437 (41.4% of the population aged three years and over) regard themselves as able to speak Irish. Of these, 77,185 (1.8%) speak Irish on a daily basis outside school. Irish is also undergoing a revival in Northern Ireland and has been accorded some legal status there under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement but its official usage remains divisive among a predominantly British population. The 2001 census in Northern Ireland showed that 167,487 (10.4%) people "had some knowledge of Irish". Combined, this means that around one in three people () on the island of Ireland can understand Irish to some extent, although a large percentage of these do not speak it fluently. The census figures do not take into account those Irish who have emigrated, and it has been estimated (rightly or wrongly) that there are more native speakers of Irish in Britain, the US, Australia, and other parts of the world than there are in Ireland itself.
Focus Ireland
There are a record number of nearly 10,000 people homeless – Shockingly, nearly 4000 are children. Always get all the most recent homeless figures for Ireland here. Focus Ireland – in partnership with the State - manages to help at least one family a day to secure a home and leave homelessness. However, the crisis continues to deepen as one family becomes homeless every 8 hours in Ireland. Focus Ireland has repeatedly called for urgent increase in the provision of social and affordable rental housing and for the State to move away from its massive over reliance on providing housing in the private rented market where rents are constantly increasing.
Irish people
For a comparatively small population of about 6 million people, Ireland made an enormous contribution to literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages. Notable Irish writers, playwrights and poets include Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, Oscar Wilde, Oliver Goldsmith, James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Bram Stoker, W.B Yeats, Séamus Heaney and Brendan Behan.
Homelessness in Ireland
As of late 2017, there were over 8,000 homeless people in Ireland, with approximately one-third of these being children. The total number of homeless people in Ireland rose by 25% between September 2016 and September 2017.
Ireland–United Kingdom relations
Irish migration to Great Britain is an important factor in the politics and labour markets of the Isles. Irish people have been the largest ethnic minority group in Britain for centuries, regularly migrating across the Irish Sea. From the earliest recorded history to the present, there has been a continuous movement of people between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain due to their proximity. This tide has ebbed and flowed in response to politics, economics and social conditions of both places. At the 2011 census, there were 869,000 Irish-born residents in the United Kingdom.
Lithuanians in Ireland
Most Lithuanian immigrants arrived in Ireland in the 2000s, when the Irish economy started booming. According to Census 2011, there are 36,683 people of Lithuanian birth resident in the Republic of Ireland. Approximately one third of these Lithuanians live in County Dublin.
Irish diaspora
Today there are an estimated 1,000,000 people of Irish ancestry in Argentina, approximately 15.5% of the Republic of Ireland's current population; however, these numbers may be far higher, given that many Irish newcomers declared themselves to be British, as Ireland at the time was still part of the United Kingdom and today their descendants integrated into Argentine society with mixed bloodlines.
Center of population
The centre of population of the entire island of Ireland is located near Kilcock, County Kildare. This is significantly further east than the Geographical centre of Ireland, reflecting the disproportionately large cities of the east of the island (Belfast and Dublin). The centre of population of the Republic of Ireland is located southwest of Edenderry, County Offaly.
Irish people in mainland Europe
15,000 Irish live in Malta, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Slovenia and the Vatican in Mid-South Europe.
Black people in Ireland
Black people have lived in Ireland in very small numbers since the 18th century.
History of roads in Ireland
If all these motorways are opened, Ireland will have a ratio of 1 km of motorway to every 4,277.56 people (assuming a population of 4.5 million) by 2015. This compares to a current ratio of 1 km of motorway to every 6,017.32 people in Belgium. Although welcomed by many people, the construction of new motorways in Ireland has not been without controversy or opposition. In particular, the construction of the M3 motorway through the archaeologically significant Tara-Skryne valley (or Gabhra) near Tara has led to protests and calls for protection of its landscape from many, including Pat Wallace, Director of the National Museum of Ireland, and other prominent figures in Ireland and other countries. The Smithsonian Institution in the US has placed the Hill of Tara archaeological complex on its list of endangered cultural treasures as a result of the M3's construction.
List of Irish people
This is a list of notable Irish people who were born on the island of Ireland, in either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, and have lived there for most of their lives. Also included on the list are people who were not born in Ireland, but have been raised as Irish, have lived there for most of their lives or in regards to the Republic of Ireland, have adopted Irish citizenship (e.g., Daniel Day-Lewis). The names are sorted by surname.
Irish Mesolithic
Based on the settlement evidence, it is likely that population density was quite low. Following the lead of Milner and colleagues’ calculations for Britain, if we take the low end of ethnographic forager population density estimates (0.1/km) and factor in Ireland’s current area (84,000 km), we arrive at a population estimate of 8,400 individuals at any one time, spread thinly along the island’s extensive coastlines, lakeshores and river valleys.
British Isles
The population of England rose rapidly during the 19th and 20th centuries, whereas the populations of Scotland and Wales showed little increase during the 20th century; the population of Scotland has remained unchanged since 1951. Ireland for most of its history had much the same population density as Great Britain (about one third of the total population). However, since the Great Irish Famine, the population of Ireland has fallen to less than one tenth of the population of the British Isles. The famine caused a century-long population decline, drastically reduced the Irish population and permanently altered the demographic make-up of the British Isles. On a global scale, this disaster led to the creation of an Irish diaspora that numbers fifteen times the current population of the island.
Ireland
The population of Ireland collapsed dramatically during the second half of the 19th century. A population of over 8 million in 1841 was reduced to slightly more than 4 million by 1921. In part, the fall in population was due to death from the Great Famine of 1845 to 1852, which took about 1 million lives. However, by far the greater cause of population decline was the dire economic state of the country which led to an entrenched culture of emigration lasting until the 21st century.