1861 Census: Decline in the Population of Ireland
(Famine, Disease and Emigration)

From Thom's Almanac and Official Directory, 1862

Decline of the population in Ireland.—The people of Ireland in 1851 proved to be 1,622,739 less numerous than in 1841, a diminution commonly attributed to the famine consequent on the potato failure in 1845 and subsequent years. The mortality of that period having been concentrated in workhouses and temporary hospitals, and having ravaged some portions of the country, in which disease prevailed with extraordinary virulence, the great loss of population has been usually accounted for by estimating the deaths generally according to their extent in the severely visited localities; but the Mortality Returns, founded on the Census of 1851, show that the deaths from 1841 were not, in the aggregate, excessive. In the emigration to America, migration to Great Britain, and the decrease of births, the causes of decline are to be found.

Of the children living in 1841 and 1851, the Census of each period supplies the following totals of the number born within twelve months preceding :—

	1841	1851
Leinster	46,348	34,451
Munster	61,389	34,653
Ulster	57,466	42,875
Connaught	37,263	20,613
TOTAL	202,466	132,592

The decrease of children living in 1851, aged from one month to a year, was, as compared with the enumeration of 1841, so much as 69,874; and the decline in the number of births was operating from 1841.

Of children living in 1841 and 1851, aged from 1 to 9 years, the Census Reports contain the following enumerations, which show a decrease between 1841 and 1851, of 585,322: —

1841		1851
Born in 1840	158,958	Born in 1850	106,192
Born in 1839	230,804	Born in 1849	141,638
Born in 1838	218,149	Born in 1848	118,271
Born in 1837	219,148	Born in 1847	145,678
Born in 1836	216,888	Born in 1846	152,206
Born in 1835	218,688	Born in 1845	161,803
Born in 1834	221,712	Born in 1844	165,426
Born in 1833	222,504	Born in 1843	170,081
Born in 1832	196,413	Born in 1842	156,647
TOTAL	1,903,264		1,317,942

Until 1847, emigration did not materially reduce the population. In that year 215,444 persons emigrated to America and the Colonies, being more than double the number of the emigrants in 1846. In the ten years, from June, 1841, to March, 1851, there emigrated 1,240,737 persons, which materially lessened the number of children to be enumerated in 1851; but this only in part accounts for the great diminution of births after 1841.

The Census Report for 1851 contains a Table showing that if births had taken place in the ratio of 1 to 31 of the population, annually, as in England (without an emigration), the number of children born in Ireland from 1841 to 1851 would have been 2,711,814; and the population in the latter year would have been 9,018,799, instead of 6,552,885. In this calculation, allowance is made for 1,868,139 deaths; estimating the mortality in the ratio of 1 to 45 of the population in each year; and the births would have thus exceeded the deaths by 843,675.

The actual number of deaths from 1841 to 1851, as ascertained in making the Census, amounted to 1,361,051, and the deaths from extraordinary causes did not amount to one third of this total, thus :—

Deaths from Fever	222,029	Dysentry and Diarrhoea	134,555	Total 414,343
Cholera	35,989	Starvation	21,770

A large proportion of the deaths from such causes occurred in the years of famine, and the mortality in those years was, therefore, excessive; but the total for ten years is not in excess of the ordinary ratio of deaths, even in a declining population, taking the mean of the numbers of the people in 1841 and 1851.

The Census of 1861 gives the population as 5,764,543, being 787,842 less than that of 1851, or a decrease of 12.02 per cent, in the last ten years. During this period as many as 1,163,418 persons emigrated from Ireland. 

NUMBER of EMIGRANTS who left each County in Ireland, from the 1st of May, 1851, to the 31st of December, 1860.  (Please note that you can adjust the magnification of the table by clicking on the `view' option on your browser and selecting a larger text size). 

Provinces and Counties	Number of Emigrants who left each County in Ireland, from 1st May, 1851, to the 31st of December, 1860												Proportion per cent. of the Population of 1851 who left each county
	Number of Emigrants									No. of Emigrants from 1st May, 1851, to 31st Dec., 1860
	1851-52*	1853	1854	1855	1856	1857	1858	1859	1860	Males	Females	Total
LEINSTER
Carlow	4,078	1,743	1,593	743	642	629	435	376	400	5,308	5,331	10,639	15.63
Dublin	7,210	2,486	2,332	1,963	2,043	1,436	2,052	2,708	2,966	12,844	12,352	25,196	6.22
Kildare	4,495	2,206	1,625	797	563	734	517	651	589	6,430	5,747	12,177	12.72
Kilkenny	11,412	6,394	4,438	2,756	2,037	2,098	1,315	1,514	1,784	17,037	16,711	33,748	21.26
King's	8,178	3,499	2,747	1,341	1,017	1,049	873	938	1,225	10,334	10,533	20,867	18.62
Longford	5,985	2,338	1,657	629	718	941	524	758	884	7,165	7,269	14,434	17.53
Louth	5,871	3,265	2,192	1,175	1,005	1,083	590	763	960	8,093	8,811	16,904	15.70
Meath	9,077	4,227	2,901	1,310	1,196	1,385	803	1,009	1,225	11,460	11,673	23,133	16.44
Queen's	8,165	3,492	2,661	1,016	1,003	836	509	947	1,101	9,926	9,804	19,730	17.67
Westmeath	7,156	3,062	2,198	1,039	1,195	970	688	923	1,155	9,491	8,895	18,386	16.50
Wexford	10,004	5,282	3,987	1,808	1,442	1,726	1,086	750	879	13,819	13,145	26,964	14.97
Wicklow	3,928	2,599	1,268	873	419	595	769	504	198	5,808	5,345	11,153	11.27
Total	85,559	40,593	29,599	15,450	13,280	13,482	10,161	11,841	13,366	117,715	115,616	233,331	13.95
MUNSTER
Clare	18,291	8,280	7,410	3,387	2,621	3,034	2,254	1,921	2,485	23,065	26,618	49,683	23.39
Cork	36,089	21,576	18,944	13,943	15,756	14,359	7,263	7,586	10,906	72,432	73,990	146,422	22.55
Kerry	17,625	10,448	7,283	4,164	4,364	4,348	1,586	1,877	2,788	26,438	28,045	54,483	22.87
Limerick	21,842	10,081	8,798	3,702	4,048	3,498	2,653	2,840	4,178	29,263	32,377	61,640	23.51
Tipperary	28,503	14,130	11,391	5,573	4,560	5,170	2,890	3,423	4,579	39,513	40,706	80,219	24.19
Waterford	9,419	6,527	5,848	3,277	3,156	3,318	1,857	2,068	2,492	20,807	17,155	37,962	23.14
Total	131,769	71,042	59,674	34,046	34,505	33,727	18,503	19,715	27,428	211,518	218,891	430,409	23.17
ULSTER
Antrim	8,120	5,316	4,425	6,178	7,967	9,514	9,757	15,375	8,877	41,272	34,257	75,529	21.44
Armagh	5,405	3,194	2,914	3,385	3,156	3,093	2,695	2,987	2,228	15,856	13,201	29,057	14.82
Cavan	11,500	5,782	4,149	2,462	2,507	3,110	1,574	2,332	2,724	17,756	18,384	36,140	20.76
Donegal	12,137	5,746	4,672	3,882	3,314	2,283	1,840	2,293	1,774	20,465	17,476	37,941	14.87
Down	5,971	4,622	4,250	5,155	4,897	6,129	5,633	6,760	3,818	28,132	19,103	47,235	14.37
Fermanagh	4,991	2,212	2,056	1,619	1,449	1,615	844	951	1,420	8,889	8,268	17,157	14.78
Londonderry	6,418	3,489	2,953	2,984	2,660	2,438	2,267	2,338	1,964	14,838	12,673	27,511	14.33
Monaghan	7,759	3,980	2,892	2,020	2,238	2,192	1,586	1,979	1,871	13,786	12,731	26,517	18.70
Tyrone	9,146	5,543	3,902	3,922	3,634	3,799	2,983	3,135	3,114	20,724	18,454	39,178	15.32
Total	71,447	39,884	32,213	31,607	31,822	34,173	29,179	38,150	27,790	181,718	154,547	336,265	16.71
CONNAUGHT
Galway	18,006	8,867	7,578	3,158	2,516	3,241	2,163	2,468	2,356	24,615	25,738	50,353	15.65
Leitrim	5,051	2,122	1,791	1,190	1,365	1,414	788	1,235	1,472	8,593	7,835	16,428	14.68
Mayo	11,627	4,208	3,229	2,140	1,444	1,695	1,222	1,559	1,756	14,275	14,605	28,880	10.52
Roscommon	10,439	4,151	3,616	1,625	1,746	1,550	985	1,557	1,654	13,781	13,542	27,323	15.75
Sligo	4,176	1,962	1,612	1,161	881	1,154	602	645	934	6,267	6,860	13,127	10.21
Total	49,299	21,310	17,826	9,274	7,952	9,054	5,760	7,464	8,172	67,531	68,580	136,111	13.48
Not stated	4,308	319	1,243	1,537	3,222	4,645	734	3,429	7,865	15,900	11,402	27,302
Total	342,382	173,148	140,555	91,914	90,781	95,081	64,337	80,599	84,621	594,382	569,036	1,163,418	17.75

* The Emigration for 1851-52 is given for the last nine months of the year 1851, and the entire year of 1852

See also Census of Ireland (1821, 1831, and 1841 compared)

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