Overview

Emigration in an Age of Austerity

No country in Europe has been as affected by emigration over the last two centuries as Ireland. Approximately ten million people have emigrated from the island of Ireland since 1800. Considering the island’s population today stands at 6.4 million people, the amount of people who have left in the last 200 years is extraordinary. As a result, emigration has had an enormous impact on Irish society. Every generation of Irish people in the last two centuries has had some experience of migration, whether it be their own migration abroad or that of family members and friends.

Background

This report is on an Irish Research Council funded study of contemporary Irish emigration. The study was jointly hosted by the Department of Geography and the Institute for the Social Sciences in the 21st Century at University College Cork. 

Authors

The report is authored by Irial Glynn, Tomás Kelly and Piaras MacÉinri.