The population of Ireland: history, characteristics, composition and size

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Ireland is a country with a rich historical past. The Irish are considered direct descendants of the Celts, who settled down and entrenched themselves in the northern lands from the beginning of the second millennium BC. Their established proto-state, however, did not occupy the entire territory of the island, but in parallel with the growth of the population of Ireland, the boundaries of its possessions expanded.

It is established that the Irish are the heirs of the customs, traditions, culture of the Celtic people. And they are still successfully coping with this role, because, despite the centuries-old pressure and attempts of intervention by the British, they managed to maintain their originality, uniqueness, language and devotion to Catholicism.

Goals and objectives

The objectives of this article are to analyze how the population of Ireland has changed quantitatively and qualitatively in the course of history, to trace the dependence of its changes on historical processes. In addition, it's worthto consider the demographic situation that is currently observed in this country, to draw certain conclusions.

Let's turn to history

The Celts, who are considered descendants of the modern Irish, are in fact not quite the indigenous population of Ireland: they came from the Mediterranean and permanently settled in new lands. And the people who originally lived on the island were expelled by them from there.

Large-scale external threats and cataclysms in Ireland were not noted until the twelfth century, except for the occasional Viking raids. However, soon its territories arouse the interest of the British, who need new lands. It makes no sense to enumerate all the clashes of these two warring nations from century to century. In 1801, England conquered and finally subjugated the Irish lands, incorporating them into the British kingdom. The consequences of this event are sad: by the middle of the 19th century, due to crop failure and, as a result, famine, mass emigration, the Reformation with its persecution of Catholics, almost a third of the population died or was killed.

Moreover, British influence led to the territorial division of the island: in 1919, the northern part, Ulster, where Protestants prevail, was recognized by Great Britain. And the Catholic population of Ireland remained to live in a sovereign separate state with the same name and capital in the city of Dublin. Naturally, this division was reflected in demographic indicators, because Northern Ireland was lost. Population(the number of which was considerable due to the greater degree of development of this territory) she received British citizenship.

Ireland population growth since 1801

Let's go directly to the statistics and numbers. It is known that the maximum population of the country was recorded during the years of Ireland's entry into the British kingdom and amounted to approximately 8.2 million. Literally a decade later, it underwent a rapid decline and further recession until the sixties of the twentieth century.

In numbers it looks like this: 1850s - 6.7 million; 1910s - 4.4 million; 1960s - 2.81 million (minimum); 1980s - 3.5 million. In the 2000s, the most active population growth was observed, associated with both increasing natural growth and stable immigration. Therefore, in the first decade of the 21st century, the number of people has increased from 3.8 to 4.5 million people. The current population for this year is 4,706,000. Experts calculated that the figure is increasing by 40 people every day, taking into account those migrating and the dead. Of all European countries, Ireland boasts the highest birth rate.

Age and gender characteristics

During the last census of the country's inhabitants in April 2016, information appeared on the internal structure of the population. The following percentages were calculated:

• Firstly, it turned out that the country is home to an approximately equal number of men and women, the former are literally 5 thousand more.
• Wo-secondly, the current age ratio was derived: from 0 to 15 years old, about 993 thousand people were recorded, starting from 16 years old and ending with the retirement age (65 years old), 3.2 million residents were registered, and people over 66 years old turned out to be only 544 thousand. Interestingly, there are approximately equal numbers of male and female residents in each age category. Moreover, the weaker sex in Ireland lives an average of 3 years more than the strong (82 years and 78 years, respectively). Such a high life expectancy is due to the considerable government spending on he althcare.

Ethnic composition, language factor

During the already mentioned census, it was determined what nationalities people inhabit the island. It is logical that the majority of citizens are Irish (88%). The second in the ranking are the British (3%). By the way, the influence of the British has not weakened over the past century, and Ireland is still under pressure in all spheres of life. This is understandable, because the great historical past of England and its ambitions are known to all. And the population of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is ten times larger than the Irish (64.7 million), so assimilation can be seen with the naked eye.

There are also significant diasporas of immigrants from EU countries in the country: Germans, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, Romanians. There are many citizens of the Chinese nation, immigrants from Russia, Ukraine, Nigeria, and the Philippines. In general, all peoples, in addition to the Irish and the British, are considered national minorities and together they make up 9% of the totalpopulation.

Despite the dominance of the Irish nation in the country, not every representative speaks his own language. Now a lot of work is being done to spread it, and Irish has been given the status of a state language along with English. But still, the latter is still the most common on the island.

Religious issue

Initially, the Celts professed Catholicism. However, the Reformation, pursuing a mission to spread Protestantism, also affected them. That is why there was a split into Northern Ireland with a Protestant population and a southern state devoted to Catholicism (they are now about 91% of the population). However, there is now an increase in the number of Protestant families in Ireland, which is alarming the government.

Additional indicators

It is necessary to define another demographic feature that Ireland has - population density. Due to the fact that the western regions of the country are less developed and developed than the northern lands, people unevenly populate the island. But on average, the population density is about 66-67 people per square kilometer. It is worth considering that in metropolitan areas (Dublin, Cork, Limerick) it is much larger. For example, in Dublin, up to 4,000 people are concentrated on one square kilometer.

Irish people are almost completely literate (about 97%), and young people are really interested in getting higher education (75% of young people are students).

In generalThe population of Ireland is successfully growing every year, and the country is developing a rather favorable demographic situation, when the birth rate exceeds the death rate. Projections are only going to get better: in a hundred years, the population is expected to pass the 6 million mark, and life expectancy will be at least 90 years.