Irish population

The population of Ireland has not yet recovered half-way from a Great Irish Famine of 1845. The immediate effects of the famine saw a great many people killed by starvation or disease and others emigrated to avoid the same fate. The longer-term effects created a breakdown in the social order which forced emigration and a consequent 100-year decline in the population. It's only in the last 50 years that the population has started to grow again.