I made the map using mapchart.net and gathered the data from the central statistics office website for the censuses for 1841 and 2016.
From 1845 to 1849, Ireland experienced The Great Famine (An Gorta Mór)) in which over 1 million people died and over 1 million more emigrated. Ireland felt the effect of this for generations and many counties are only recently starting to increase in population.
The county with the largest increase is Dublin (+261%), which went from 370k in 1841 to 1.35 million in 2016. The county with the largest decrease is Leitrim (-79%) which went from 155k in 1841 to 30k in 2016.
The overall population of the island today is 6.6 million, while it was 8.2 million in 1841.
EDIT: Just thought I’d add in some info about recent population growth here because I didn’t make clear enough that the population is currently increasing in the vast majority of counties. Between 1990 and 2020, Ireland’s population increased by 40%
I will never get over the fact that Ireland overall still has fewer people now than before the potato famine. And most of that decline was not from starvation but from emigration.
I still can't get over the emigration in those days. Now, I can talk to relatives in NZ via a video call. Back then, if you said goodbye to your son or daughter heading to the US, you probably were never going to see them again. Depending on when they travelled, there was a fair chance they wouldn't even make it there alive.
![image showing [OC] Population change of Ireland’s counties from 1841 to 2016](4401c530-3871-565a-ab6c-30c8175a8867.jpg)
m-ainm-usaideora on May 13rd, 2020 at 12:56 UTC »
I made the map using mapchart.net and gathered the data from the central statistics office website for the censuses for 1841 and 2016.
From 1845 to 1849, Ireland experienced The Great Famine (An Gorta Mór)) in which over 1 million people died and over 1 million more emigrated. Ireland felt the effect of this for generations and many counties are only recently starting to increase in population.
The county with the largest increase is Dublin (+261%), which went from 370k in 1841 to 1.35 million in 2016. The county with the largest decrease is Leitrim (-79%) which went from 155k in 1841 to 30k in 2016.
The overall population of the island today is 6.6 million, while it was 8.2 million in 1841.
EDIT: Just thought I’d add in some info about recent population growth here because I didn’t make clear enough that the population is currently increasing in the vast majority of counties. Between 1990 and 2020, Ireland’s population increased by 40%
kernals12 on May 13rd, 2020 at 13:23 UTC »
I will never get over the fact that Ireland overall still has fewer people now than before the potato famine. And most of that decline was not from starvation but from emigration.
whooo_me on May 13rd, 2020 at 14:55 UTC »
I still can't get over the emigration in those days. Now, I can talk to relatives in NZ via a video call. Back then, if you said goodbye to your son or daughter heading to the US, you probably were never going to see them again. Depending on when they travelled, there was a fair chance they wouldn't even make it there alive.