1,216,237 people living in Ireland were born abroad
That is up from 227,783 in 1990. Going the other way, 714,405 people born in Ireland live in another country, down from 927,001.
Irish-born people per 1,000 residents
People living in Ireland per 1,000 people in their country of birth
- 10 or more
- 2 to 10
- 0.5 to 2
- 0.1 to 0.5
- Under 0.1
- No figure
Where people born in Ireland live
More than half live in the United Kingdom. Against the size of each country, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man come first, with 24 and 19 Irish-born people in every 1,000, ahead of the United Kingdom at 5.2.
| Country | In 2024 | In 1990 | Per 1,000 people living there |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 360,446 | 635,576 | 5.2 |
| United States | 125,844 | 182,968 | 0.36 |
| Australia | 90,203 | 51,489 | 3.4 |
| Poland | 34,300 | – | 0.89 |
| Canada | 28,912 | 28,551 | 0.73 |
| Spain | 19,990 | 1,882 | 0.42 |
| New Zealand | 8,989 | 6,398 | 1.7 |
| Channel Islands | 4,112 | 1,660 | 24 |
| Italy | 4,101 | 1,460 | 0.07 |
| Belgium | 3,823 | 1,898 | 0.33 |
| Denmark | 2,603 | 982 | 0.44 |
| South Africa | 2,575 | 6,317 | 0.04 |
47 more countries
| Country | In 2024 | In 1990 | Per 1,000 people living there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Romania | 2,476 | – | 0.13 |
| Hungary | 2,413 | 26 | 0.25 |
| Portugal | 2,013 | 199 | 0.19 |
| Lithuania | 1,886 | 18 | 0.66 |
| Luxembourg | 1,651 | 412 | 2.5 |
| Slovakia | 1,624 | 1 | 0.29 |
| Isle of Man | 1,591 | 1,628 | 19 |
| Malta | 1,424 | 47 | 2.6 |
| Japan | 1,295 | 626 | 0.01 |
| Norway | 1,289 | 446 | 0.23 |
| Czechia | 1,149 | – | 0.11 |
| China | 1,102 | 471 | 0.00 |
| Latvia | 862 | 14 | 0.46 |
| Cyprus | 817 | 193 | 0.60 |
| Finland | 786 | 88 | 0.14 |
| Hong Kong | 749 | 466 | 0.10 |
| Botswana | 661 | 185 | 0.26 |
| Greece | 637 | 1,042 | 0.06 |
| Bulgaria | 529 | 4 | 0.08 |
| Bermuda | 385 | 87 | 6.0 |
| Mexico | 370 | 129 | 0.00 |
| Argentina | 340 | 286 | 0.01 |
| Estonia | 336 | – | 0.25 |
| Cayman Islands | 281 | 79 | 3.8 |
| Peru | 253 | 314 | 0.01 |
| Iceland | 227 | 81 | 0.58 |
| Brazil | 208 | 251 | 0.00 |
| Panama | 166 | 9 | 0.04 |
| Moldova | 163 | 12 | 0.05 |
| India | 155 | 242 | 0.00 |
| Bolivia | 95 | 22 | 0.01 |
| Slovenia | 66 | 2 | 0.03 |
| Namibia | 65 | 89 | 0.02 |
| Bahamas | 65 | 55 | 0.16 |
| Venezuela | 54 | 55 | 0.00 |
| Mauritius | 49 | 30 | 0.04 |
| Croatia | 46 | – | 0.01 |
| Costa Rica | 42 | 24 | 0.01 |
| Papua New Guinea | 41 | 67 | 0.00 |
| Dominican Republic | 36 | 51 | 0.00 |
| Nicaragua | 25 | 15 | 0.00 |
| Belarus | 22 | 16 | 0.00 |
| Liechtenstein | 19 | 1 | 0.48 |
| Saint Lucia | 15 | 10 | 0.08 |
| Central African Republic | 11 | 1 | 0.00 |
| El Salvador | 11 | 24 | 0.00 |
| Mongolia | 7 | 2 | 0.00 |
Where people living in Ireland were born
The United Kingdom, which includes Northern Ireland, is still the biggest single country of birth. The largest change is Ukraine: 375 people in 1990, 125,016 in 2024. Against the size of each country, Lithuania and Latvia stand out: about 12 and 11 in every 1,000 people born there now live in Ireland.
| Country of birth | In 2024 | In 1990 | Per 1,000 people born there |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 293,559 | 174,509 | 4.2 |
| Ukraine | 125,016 | 375 | 3.3 |
| Poland | 102,708 | 489 | 2.7 |
| India | 70,228 | 738 | 0.05 |
| Brazil | 48,605 | 264 | 0.23 |
| Romania | 47,700 | 1,241 | 2.5 |
| United States | 36,363 | 14,625 | 0.11 |
| Lithuania | 34,584 | 485 | 12 |
| Nigeria | 22,078 | 3,605 | 0.09 |
| Philippines | 21,796 | 1,171 | 0.19 |
| Spain | 20,849 | 1,680 | 0.44 |
| Latvia | 20,840 | 575 | 11 |
| Moldova | 19,842 | 219 | 6.5 |
| South Africa | 18,857 | 2,904 | 0.29 |
| China | 18,391 | 1,668 | 0.01 |
| Italy | 17,508 | 1,473 | 0.30 |
| Pakistan | 16,059 | 708 | 0.06 |
| France | 15,924 | 4,190 | 0.24 |
| Croatia | 15,615 | 128 | 4.0 |
| Germany | 15,484 | 5,465 | 0.18 |
| Australia | 11,165 | 4,510 | 0.42 |
| Slovakia | 9,573 | 75 | 1.7 |
| Hungary | 8,628 | 101 | 0.89 |
| Russia | 8,466 | 1,070 | 0.06 |
| Canada | 7,811 | 2,760 | 0.20 |
| Portugal | 6,795 | 143 | 0.65 |
Questions
How many people born in Ireland live abroad?
714,405 in 2024, according to the UN. That is down from 927,001 in 1990. 360,446 of them live in the United Kingdom.
How many people living in Ireland were born abroad?
1,216,237 in 2024, up from 227,783 in 1990, according to the UN. That is about 23% of the population.
Which country has the most Irish-born people?
The United Kingdom, with 360,446, followed by the United States and Australia. Measured against the size of the population, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man have the most: about 24 and 19 in every 1,000 people there were born in Ireland.
Why are there Irish-born people in Poland?
The UN counts 34,300 people living in Poland who were born in Ireland. Being born here is not the same as being Irish, and many of them are likely to be children born in Ireland to Polish parents who later moved home.
How many Ukrainians live in Ireland?
The UN puts the number of people born in Ukraine and living in Ireland at 125,016 in 2024. In 1990 it was 375.
Why do some countries have no figure?
The UN can only report the countries of birth that each country's own census or register records separately. Germany, France and the Netherlands, among others, do not break out people born in Ireland, so they are left blank rather than shown as zero.
Figures are for 2024 and count place of birth, not citizenship. Source: UN DESA Population Division, International Migrant Stock 2024, adapted, CC BY 3.0 IGO.
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