Irish diaspora
!['Emigrants Leave Ireland', engraving by Henry Doyle (1827–1892), from Mary Frances Cusack's Illustrated History of Ireland, 1868](/Images/godic/202501/30/Emigrants_Leave_Ireland_by_Henry_Doyle_18681938.jpg")
![The Bridge of Tears (Droichead na nDeor in Irish) in West Donegal, Ireland. Family and friends of emigrants would accompany them as far as the bridge before saying goodbye, while the emigrants would continue on to Derry Port.](/Images/godic/202501/30/Road_from_Falcarragh_SE_to_R251_-_Bridge_of_Tears_-_geograph.org.uk_-_11852301938.jpg")
![A plaque commemorating The Bridge of Tears, which reads,](/Images/godic/202501/30/Road_from_Falcarragh_SE_to_R251_-_Stone_monument_-_geograph.org.uk_-_11852621938.jpg")
![Bermudiana, found only in Bermuda and Ireland](/Images/godic/202501/30/Sisyrinchium_bermudianum_B1939.jpg")
The Irish diaspora (Irish:Diaspóra na nGael) refers to Irish people and their descendants who live outside Ireland.
Since 1700 between 9 and 10 million people born in Ireland have emigrated. This is more than the population of Ireland at its historical peak in the 1840s of 8.5 million. The poorest of them went to Great Britain, especially Liverpool; those who could afford it, almost 5 million, went to the United States.