Nearly 10 million Irish have emigrated from Ireland since 1800, and today around 70 million people around the world claim Irish heritage or ancestry, according to the Irish government.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has compiled a list of the countries outside of Ireland that had the most Irish migrants in 2015. Irish migrants are defined as Irish citizens or people born in Ireland.
The figures take into account foreign citizens and the foreign born, so the actual number of people claiming Irish ancestry is actually much higher, according to U.S. News & World Report.
The country with the largest number of Irish migrants is the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. While the U.K. has about 500,000 Irish migrants, many times that number claim Irish ancestry.
The United States, which has 132,280 Irish migrants, comes in second on the list. However, according to a report by Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, nearly 36 million people in the country claim Irish ancestry.
Australia is home to the third-largest population of Irish migrants, and Canada comes in fourth. Both of these countries have a significant number of people who say they have Irish roots.
Here is the list of the countries with the most Irish emigrants:
1. U.K. (503,288)
2. U.S. (132,280)
3. Australia (101,032)
4. Canada (33,530)
5. Spain (14,651)
6. South Africa (13,009)
7. Germany (11,373)
8. France (9,828)
9. New Zealand (9,398)
10.Poland (7,592)
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