Country · Europe
Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland is a country in Northern Europe. Its capital city is Dublin. About 4.9 million people live there, in an area of 70 273 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Fred Antoine (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Jon Sullivan (Public domain) · RoryFC (CC BY-SA 4.0) · psyberartist (CC BY 2.0) · Diliff (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Ireland?
Ireland lies in Northern Europe, on the continent of Europe.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 5 900 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 1 448 km long.
It shares a border with 1 country: United Kingdom.
How big is Ireland?
Ireland covers 70 273 square kilometres.
That is about 27 times the size of Luxembourg.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 118th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 69.3 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Ireland?
About 4.9 million people live in Ireland.
That is the 120th biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Irish.
They pay with the Euro (€).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 77 years.
The land of Ireland
The land in Ireland sits on average 118 metres above sea level, which makes it one of the flatter countries on Earth.
Its coast runs for about 1 448 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 72 days.
It lies between the tropics and the poles, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Ireland different?
A dish the country is known for: Colcannon and Irish stew.
Websites from here often end in .ie.
Ireland and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0.6 live in Ireland.
It takes up about 0.05 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Europe it is the 22nd largest of 45 countries, and the 26th most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Ireland and its neighbours
United Kingdom, its largest neighbour, is about 3.5 times bigger.
United Kingdom has more people: 66.5 million against 4.9 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 2 live wild in Ireland: Common pipistrelle bat and Atlantic puffin.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Ireland?
The capital of Ireland is Dublin. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Ireland?
About 4.9 million people live in Ireland, which makes it the 120th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Ireland?
Ireland borders United Kingdom — 1 neighbour in total.
How big is Ireland?
Ireland covers 70 273 square kilometres, making it the 118th largest country in the world. That is about 27 times the size of Luxembourg.
Which continent is Ireland in?
Ireland is in Europe, in the part called Northern Europe.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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