Pre-Famine Demographics
Marriage and Fertility
In the late eighteenth century, Ireland began to experience historic rates of population growth. These rates soared for nearly half a century and by 1820, Ireland had the greatest population density of any western European country [1]. It is known that population growth occurs through some combination of positive net immigration, low mortality and high fertility. Research has explored which factors led to Ireland’s pre-Famine population boom, and several theories have been suggested:
- Timothy Guinnane asserts that high fertility accounts for the significant increase in Irish population. Because Ireland did not experience positive net immigration at the time of the boom, this factor did not play a role in the increase. Also, death rates were not extraordinarily low, which eliminates this feature from the explanation as well. In light of the way in which population growth occurs, Guinnane therefore asserts that it was high fertility that was responsible for the rise in Irish population.
- William Adams also proposes that Ireland’s extraordinarily high birth rates during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s were responsible for creating a population boom. Adams contends that the most important cause of high fertility was the rise of small tillage farms in the 1780’s [1]. He explains how new farmers often lacked sufficient funds to pay money wages to their laborers so gave them land instead. The possession of land, increased employment, periodic higher wages, and the lack of education to advance their careers and thus increase their living standards are factors that encouraged new landholders to marry at younger ages. Adams asserts that these earlier unions caused high rates of birth, which contributed significantly to Ireland’s early 19th century population growth.
- Historian Kenneth Connell asserts that younger marriages along with a lack of birth control usage resulted in high fertility rates. Although this view was widely accepted for many years, recent historians have found that Connell’s evidence was based on unreliable sources that led to exaggerated data (Guinnane, 87, 1997).
- Some historians suggest that the source of high fertility was a desire by the Irish for large families, while others have considered the way in which the Irish viewed children as providing insurance and old age support for the poor.
Although many interpretations have been proposed, the lack of reliable data makes it difficult to conclude with any certainty why marital fertility was so high in early nineteenth century Ireland.
Emigration
Ireland’s rate of population growth slowed during the two decades preceding the Famine of the 1840’s. This was in part due to emigration of roughly one and a half million, causing Ireland to have one of the greatest rates of out-migration in all of Western Europe at that time. Much of this pre-Famine emigration was triggered by Ireland’s weak economic conditions. For one, Ireland was too close in proximity to England to successfully compete with English manufacturing towns during the Industrial Revolution of the early 1800’s. Also, Ireland’s economic potential was severely impeded due to its few natural resources. Machinery, coal and iron were all imported from Britain, making Ireland dependent upon imports to support its non-agricultural industries. The Emerald Isle’s lack of necessary manufacturing resources significantly hindered its potential of developing an industrial sector, so agriculture remained its leading industry.
Cormac O’Grada estimates that nearly two thirds of Irish agricultural workers in the 1830’s and 1840’s depended on their wage labor for living [8]. Much of the wage labor opportunities in Ireland were limited due to the fact that this type of work was seasonal and available only two to seven months out of the year. For this reason, as well as the fact that Ireland’s economy was weak, Irish farmers, weavers, servants and city workers were faced with the need to seek additional sources of income, and emigration was the answer. Laborers viewed England as a viable option for employment opportunities since it was in the midst of the Industrial Revolution and required a larger labor force to support its industrial transition. Historian Ruth-Ann Harris analyzes the movement of Irish workers between Ireland and England in pre-Famine years and suggests that Irish migration to its neighboring land was a substitute for movement within Ireland [5].
Irish demographics before the Famine were unusual. Despite the fact that Ireland experienced the highest emigration rate in Europe with seven individuals per 1,000 emigrating each year from 1821 to 1841, it was still able to achieve unprecedented rates of population growth due to high birth rates. The causes of the rise in Irish fertility are uncertain, but what is certain is that Ireland experienced a dramatic increase of six million to eight million inhabitants over three decades from 1815 to 1845 [1]. Even more unusual than Ireland’s pre-Famine demographic patterns is the way in which the Emerald Isle encountered a reversal of its historic population rates. As is discussed in the following sections, Ireland’s population reversal was the result of various factors that occurred during and after the Great Potato Famine of the 1840’s.
