i6 THE IRISH AGRARIAN PROBLEM. 



16.4, and the Roman Catholic population of 

 county Donegal a percentage of actually 31/ 



The picture of Irish development grows still 

 darker when we look at the population statistics. 

 In 1841 the census fixed the population of 

 Ireland at 8,175,124 souls. The census of 1901 

 shows a population of 4,458,775 ; a diminution 

 in the population of 3,716,349 has therefore 

 occurred. I will not here go into the history of 

 Irish emigration, nor into its causes. Let it be 

 sufficient to mention that from 185 1 to 1901 

 3,735,725 individuals emigrated. In spite of 

 such a decline in population, in spite of the fact 

 that Ireland with its 97 heads per square mile 

 is to-day anything but a thickly populated land, 

 emigration still continues. It amounted to — 



1900 ... ... 45,228 persons. 



1901 ... ... 39>6i3 ,, ' 



56*4 per cent, of these emigrants were between 

 the ages of 15 and 25 ; 24.1 per cent, between 

 the ages of 25 and 35. Of 16,927 persons 



^ As the Census from which all these figures are taken 

 very rightly remarks, no conclusions as to the quality of the 

 population belonging to the different confessions can be 

 deduced from them. The simple fact that the Roman 

 Catholics form the majority of the country, and also the 

 greater proportion of the poor population, explains these 

 figures completely. 



^[1902 ... ... 40,190 persons. 



1903 ... ... 39j789 ., 



1904 ... ... 36,902 „ 



Transl.^ 



