THE IRELAND OF TO-DAY. 17 



between the ages of 20 and 25, only 44 men 

 and 201 women were married. It is the effi- 

 cient and enterprising youth of the country 

 who are emigrating, in order to obtain oppor- 

 tunities for bettering themselves in the greater 

 Ireland which they find in the United States. 

 The majority go out as unskilled labourers. 

 Of 18,343 men, 658 were farmers, and 13,359 

 labourers; of 21,527 women, 15,638 are described 

 as servants.^ 



Nor does the composition of the population 

 remaining in the old country show any feature 

 of economic youth and strength. To every 

 100,000 the number of those under 20 years of age 

 is 40,952 ; of those from 20 to 55 years of age, 

 44,789, and of those over 55 years of age, 14,259. 

 This division of ages is not unlike that of the 

 French population: it shows a small proportion of 

 the youthful classes (303 under 15 years per 1,000 

 in Ireland, 262 in France, but 351 in Germany), 

 and a large proportion of persons over 60 years 

 of age (Ireland 105 per 1,000, France 125, but 

 Germany only 80). 



If we look at the births and deaths we find 

 the births figure set down at 23*0 per 1,000 of 

 the population, as against i8'2 for the deaths. 

 During the Census year (1901) there occurred 

 100,976 births and 79,119 deaths. But this 

 apparently not unfavourable circumstance 



^ Emigration Statistics, 1901. Irish Emigration is dis- 

 cussed in detail by Karl Rathgen, "Englische Ausvvanderung 

 and Auswanderungspolitik." 



C 



