During the famine, (1845-50) Ireland's population went down by the millions, not all due to starvation, but also to disease, and just from people leaving and emigrating to North America and England. By 1851, the population of Ireland was just 6,552,385. “In the absence of famine, likely population growth would have resulted in just over nine million inhabitants. Based on this assumption, about 2,500,000 persons were lost during the Famine, with an estimated million having emigrated and the resulting 1,500,000 having died from the effects of the famine (http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/after.htm).” Death was most commonly seen in children under the age of 5 years old, and the elderly. After the famine, Ireland's slow economic progress made it so the talented, hardworking people were always being drained. Between the years of 1851 and 1921 there was roughly 4,500,000 Irish residents who left Ireland and traveled mainly to the United States to live their