Fertility trends, excess mortality, and the Great Irish Famine

Cormac Ó Gráda and Phelim P. Boyle

Open Access publications from School of Economics, University College Dublin

Abstract: This paper estimates mortality and fertility rates prevailing in Ireland during the 25-year period before the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1849. A technique is developed to estimate the age-specific mortality level during the Famine and the number of Famine-related deaths. The paper concludes that fertility rates were declining during the period 1821-1845 and that the effects of the Famine were especially severe on the very young and the very old. Ignoring deaths among emigrants, it is estimated that one million individuals perished as a result of the Famine. The analysis permits year-by-year reconstruction of the Irish population age structure for the period 1821-1851.

Keywords: Ireland--History--Famine, 1845-1852; Ireland--Population--History; Famines--Ireland--History (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 1986-11
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published in: Demography, 23(4) 1986-11

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http://hdl.handle.net/10197/401 Open Access version, 1986 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Fertility trends, excess mortality, and the Great Irish Famine (1986)
Working Paper: Fertility trends, excess mortality and the Great Irish Famine (1983)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucn:oapubs:10197/401

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