Over 14,000 Irish people emigrated to the U.S. during 2010, an increase of seven percent on the previous year, reports the Irish Independent.

Almost 70,000 Irish workers left Irish shores during 2010, the majority moving to Britian, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S. and Germany. This represented an almost 50 percent surge, up from the 46,0000 who emigrated in 2009.

The U.S. attracted 14,288 workers from Ireland, with the majority being on temporary work permits. New York, California and Massachusetts continue to be the most popular destination for Irish emigrants.
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Some 1,500 Irish citizens became permanent U.S. residents in 2010, a fifth of whom were new arrivals to the country.

The figures were released by the Irish Independent as part of their investigation into the continuing wave of emigrants leaving Irish shores.

Over 16,000 people made the move to Britain in search of work in the UK 2010/11 tax year. Figures from the UK Department of Work and Pensions show that over 300 Irish people per week applied for national insurance numbers to allow them to work, during 2011. The vast majority of applicants were aged 18 to 34.

The department reported the increase was because: "the Irish economy has recently experienced one of the sharpest recessions in the eurozone".

Australia witnessed a 15 percent surge in arrival of Irish emigrants, with 27, 995 arriving during their 2010/11 tax year, the majority of whom were on work visas.

Over 3,000 Irish citizens applied for permanent residency in Oz during 2011, with almost 50 percent being new arrivals.

New Zealand attracted 4,586 Irish emigrants during the 2010/11 tax year, three times more than a decade ago. Between July and December of 2011, 2,100 were granted work visas.

In Canada, almost 4,000 Irish emigrants acquired work permits in the first six months of 2011, according to their latest Citizenship and Immigration statistics.

During 2010, 4,461 Irish people emigrated to Canada, an increase of 34 percent on 2009.

In Germany, unpublished government statistics show that 1,426 Irish people emigrated there in 2010, a 16 percent increase on the previous year.