evidence: - Ireland’s population in 1900 was near its low point. Before the potato famine in the 1840s, the entire island had a population of over 8 million. As you can see, Ireland’s population dropped to 3.2 million by 1900. It has since recovered somewhat over the last 115 years to reach a population of 6.4 million today (Republic – 4.6 million, NI – 1.8 million) - The population of the United Kingdom hasn’t even doubled during this period growing from 38 million (which includes Ireland) to 64 million today. However, the successor countries of the British Empire have grown by leaps and bounds. Whereas the Empire had a total population of 384 million in 1900, India alone has a population of 1.3 billion today.