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Life in 1916 Ireland: Stories from statistics

Emigration

Emigration by sex and age group 1916-1920 and 2011-2015

1.8 Estimated Emigration by sex, age group and nationality, 1916-1920¹ and 2011-2015^1,2
											number
Age group		1916	1917	1918	1919	1920	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Persons
0 - 14		1,013	835	457	859	1,330	5,300	4,900	6,800	6,000	5,400
15 - 24		4,242	422	108	809	9,646	34,500	35,800	34,800	33,500	30,400
25 - 44		1,699	746	357	1,174	4,074	31,300	39,500	41,000	37,600	39,700
45 - 59		353	108	56	207	419	4,900	4,400	4,600	2,700	3,600
60 and over		59	18	5	65	116	4,700	2,400	1,900	2,200	1,700
Total persons		7,366	2,129	983	3,114	15,585	80,600	87,100	89,000	81,900	80,900
Of which:
	Irish nationals	7,302	2,111	980	2,975	15,531	42,000	46,500	50,900	40,700	35,300
	Non-Irish nationals	64	18	3	466	54	38,600	40,600	38,100	41,200	45,600

Males
0 - 14		538	465	240	451	673	2,500	2,300	3,900	2,200	2,900
15 - 24		442	97	40	244	3,182	15,900	17,400	15,100	15,800	13,200
25 - 44		519	214	123	401	2,027	17,900	24,700	22,500	22,300	22,100
45 - 59		255	65	38	93	153	2,400	3,000	2,500	1,100	2,800
60 and over		32	11	2	39	40	3,100	1,400	1,000	700	1,300
Total males		1,786	852	443	1,228	6,075	41,800	48,900	45,000	42,000	42,200
Of which:
	Irish nationals	1,743	838	442	1,137	6,044	24,500	26,000	27,100	22,700	18,800
	Non-Irish nationals	43	14	1	91	31	17,400	22,900	17,800	19,300	23,400

Females
0 - 14		475	370	217	408	657	2,700	2,600	2,900	3,800	2,600
15 - 24		3,800	325	68	565	6,464	18,600	18,400	19,600	17,700	17,300
25 - 44		1,180	532	234	773	2,047	13,300	14,800	18,500	15,300	17,600
45 - 59		98	43	18	114	266	2,400	1,400	2,100	1,600	900
60 and over		27	7	3	26	76	1,600	1,000	900	1,500	400
Total females		5,580	1,277	540	1,886	9,510	38,800	38,200	44,000	39,900	38,700
Of which:
	Irish nationals	5,559	1,273	538	1,838	9,487	17,500	20,600	23,800	18,000	16,500
	Non-Irish nationals	21	4	2	48	23	21,300	17,600	20,200	21,900	22,200
Source: Emigration Statistics of Ireland in House of Commons Parliamentary Report, Population and Migration estimates, CSO
¹The data for years 1916-1920 refers to the island of Ireland while the data for years 2011-2015 refers to the Republic of Ireland.
² Data for years 2011-2015 is sample data rounded to the nearest 100.

Open in Excel: Life in 1916 Ireland, Table 1.8 (XLS 14KB)

Steam ship, River Lee, Cork

Photo: Steam ship, River Lee, Cork

The total number of emigrants who boarded a ship at a port on the island of Ireland during the year 1916, with the intention of settling permanently elsewhere, was 7,366.
Almost all of these emigrants were Irish Nationals. About three quarters of all emigrants in 1916 were female.
Emigration from Ireland in the year to April 2015 was estimated to be 80,900 people.
Just under half (44%) of emigrants in 2015 were Irish Nationals and 52% were male.
Emigrants were younger in 1916 compared to 2015. In 1916 58% of emigrants were aged between 15 and 24 years of age while in 2015 nearly half were aged 25-44 years of age.

	1916	2015
0 - 14	1013	5400
15 - 24	4242	30400
25 - 44	1699	39700
45 - 59	353	3600
60 and over	59	1700

Emigration by destination 1912-1920 and 2011-2015

1.9 Estimated emigration classified by destination, 1912-1920¹ and 2011-2015²

	Destination
Years	UK	USA	Canada	Australia	Rest of world³	Rest of EU28⁴	Total persons	Estimated Population	Ratio of Emigrants (per 1,000 population)
1912	1,867	20,466	5,788	842	381		29,344	4,384,710	6.7
1913	1,149	21,758	6,673	915	472		30,967	4,379,012	7.1
1914	1,047	15,272	2,909	768	318		20,314	4,381,308	4.6
1915	2,898	6,681	597	347	136		10,659	4,337,000	2.5
1916	2,446	4,207	485	100	64		7,302	4,337,000	1.7
1917	1,908	88	79	13	23		2,111	4,390,219	0.5
1918	879	12	54	32	3		980	4,390,219	0.2
1919	1,073	848	947	60	47		2,975	4,390,219	0.7
1920	582	12,288	2,109	212	340		15,531	4,390,219	3.5

2011	20,000	4,700	2,100	13,400	16,200	24,300	80,600	4,574,900	17.6
2012	19,000	8,600	3,000	18,200	14,400	24,000	87,100	4,585,400	19.0
2013	21,900	6,200	5,300	15,400	14,400	25,700	89,000	4,593,100	19.4
2014	17,900	6,900	4,700	10,000	17,500	24,900	81,900	4,609,600	17.8
2015	19,200	5,900	7,700	7,500	18,400	22,100	80,900	4,635,400	17.5
Source: Emigration Statistics of Ireland in House of Commons Parliamentary Reports, Population and Migration estimates CSO
¹ Data for years 1912 to 1920 refers to the island of Ireland and is for Irish nationals only.
² Data for years 2011-2015 is for the Republic of Ireland and is sample data rounded to the nearest 100.
³ Rest of World includes EU28 countries for years 1912 to 1920.
⁴ Rest of EU28 excludes Ireland and the UK.

Open in Excel: Life in 1916 Ireland, Table 1.9 (XLS 13KB)

The number of Irish nationals who emigrated from the island of Ireland was about 30,000 in 1912 and 1913 but fell during the years of World War I to just 980 by 1918 and rose again after the war ended to reach 15,531 in 1920.
In recent years in Ireland emigration has been about 80,000 to 90,000 each year.
More than half of emigrants from Ireland in the years 1912 to 1916 went to the USA. During the years of World War I however, when the total number of emigrants fell, the United Kingdom grew in significance as a destination. A third of Irish nationals who emigrated in 1916 went to the United Kingdom.
About a fifth of Irish emigrants went to Canada in 1912 and 1913 but numbers travelling there fell during the war years.
In 2015 the main destination for emigrants from Ireland were the EU28 countries, with nearly 30% of emigrants travelling to these countries.
Close to a quarter of emigrants in 2015 went to the United Kingdom, while almost another quarter went to “Rest of World” countries.
In 1916 the number of emigrants was 1.7 per 1,000 of the population on the island of Ireland, considerably lower than the pre-war rate of about 7 in 1912 and 1913.
The number of emigrants in 2015 was 17.5 per 1,000 of the population in the Republic, nearly ten times higher than the emigration rate in 1916.

	1916	2015
UK	2446	19200
USA	4207	5900
Canada	485	7700
Australia	100	7500
Rest of EU28	0	22100
Rest of World	64	18400

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Life in 1916 Ireland: Stories from statistics

Emigration

Emigration by sex and age group 1916-1920 and 2011-2015

Emigration by destination 1912-1920 and 2011-2015

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