Ireland once had twice as many people as the U.S.

Bet you can’t guess how far back it was. Try way back in 1800. By the time New Year’s 2000 had rolled around, things had changed a bit: America’s population by that time was more than 60 times as large as Eire’s. Demographers predict that Ireland may not catch up with the US, but that it’s gonna get pretty crowded, reaching a population of more than 6 million after hovering below the 4 million mark for most of the 20th century.