Ireland\u2019s Central Statistics Office yesterday released figures showing an extraordinary rate of emigration — driven by the financial crisis.\u00a0 Almost 400,000 people have left Ireland since 2008.\u00a0 In the 12-month period from April 2012 to April 2013, one person was leaving the country to live abroad every six minutes.\u00a0 Most are going to the UK, Australia and Canada in search of work.\u00a0 A lot of Irish have returned home during the past five years as well — about 277,000 of them.\u00a0 That translates into a net out-migration of about 120,000.<\/p>\n
For a country of about 4.5 million people, this means a net loss of 2.5 percent of the population, no?\u00a0 If I’ve got the math right, in the U.S. that rate would mean 7.8million people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ireland\u2019s Central Statistics Office yesterday released figures showing an extraordinary rate of emigration — driven by the financial crisis.\u00a0 Almost 400,000 people have left Ireland since 2008.\u00a0 In the 12-month period from April 2012 to April 2013, one person was … Continue reading