The European Potato Failure was a food crisis caused by potato blight that struck Northern Europe

Northern Europe

Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...

 in the mid-1840s. The time is also known as the Hungry Forties. While the crisis produced excess mortality and suffering across the affected areas, particularly harshly affected were the Scottish Highlands and, above all others, Ireland. Many people starved due to their inability to access other staple food sources.

	Potatoes				Rye	Wheat	Oats
	arable land	consumption	1845 yield	1846 yield
	(%)	(kg/capita daily)	(% change on normal)
Belgium	14%	0.5/0.6 kg	−87%	−43%	−50%	−10%	n/a
Denmark	3%	0.2/0.3 kg	−50%	−50%	−20%	−20%	n/a
Sweden	5%	0.5/0.6 kg	−20–25%	−20–25%	−10%	−10%	n/a
France	App. 6%	0.5 kg	−20%	−19%	−20%	−25%	n/a
Württemberg	3–8%	n/a	−55%	−51%	−15%	−24%	n/a
Prussia	11%	1.0/1.1 kg	n/a	−47%	−43%	−43%	n/a
Netherlands	11%	0.7 kg	−71%	−56%	−47%	−6%	n/a
Spain	2%	low	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Highlands of Scotland	n/a	high	n/a	−80%	n/a	n/a	n/a
Ireland	32%	2.1 kg	−30%	−88%	n/a	n/a	−33%
Source: Eric Vanhaute, et al., The European subsistence crisis of 1845–1850: a comparative perspective

The effect of the crisis on Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 is incomparable to all other places for the devastation it wrought, causing 1 million dead and another million refugees and spurring a century-long population decline. Excluding Ireland, the death toll from the crisis is estimated to be in the region of 100,000 people. Of this, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 account for most of the deaths, with 40,000–50,000 estimated to have died in Belgium, with Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 particularly affected, and a slightly smaller number, about 42,000 estimated to have perished in Prussia. The remainder of deaths occurred mainly in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, where 10,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of famine-like conditions.

Aside from death from starvation and famine diseases, suffering came in other forms. While the demographic impact of famines are immediately visible in mortality, longer-term declines of fertility

Fertility

Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...

 and natality can also dramatically affect population. In Ireland births fell by a third, resulting in about 0.5 million "lost lives". Declines elsewhere were lower but still remarkable: Flanders lost 20–30%, the Netherlands about 10–20%, and Prussia about 12%.

Emigration to escape the famine centred mainly on Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 and the Scottish Highlands

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

. Elsewhere in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 and on the continent

Continental Europe

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

, conditions were not so harsh as to completely eradicate the basics of survival so as to require mass migration of the sort experienced in Ireland and Scotland. Over 1 million emigrated from the Scottish Highlands, many assisted by landlords and the government, mainly to North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and is seen as a continuation of the Highland Clearances

Highland Clearances

The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...

, with overtones of ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....

. Over 1 million also left Ireland to the same locations, further fueling nationalist

Irish nationalism

Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...

 antagonism to Britain, and is sometimes perceived as an Irish holocaust. The global consequence of this was the creation of substantial Scottish and Irish diaspora

Irish diaspora

thumb|Night Train with Reaper by London Irish artist [[Brian Whelan]] from the book Myth of Return, 2007The Irish diaspora consists of Irish emigrants and their descendants in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa,...

s.

	Annual population change
	1840–45	1845–46	1846–47	1847–48	1848–49	1849–50	1850–60
Belgium	+1.1%	+0.9%	+0.9%	+0.0%	+0.5%	+0.2%	+0.7%
Denmark	+1.1%	+1.0%	+0.8%	+1.0%	+1.0%	+1.0%	+1.2%
Sweden	+1.1%	+0.8%	+0.6%	+1.0%	+1.3%	+1.2%	+1.0%
France	+0.5%	+0.7%	+0.4%	+0.1%	+0.3%	+0.0%	+0.5%
Germany (total)	+1.0%	+1.0%	+0.5%	+0.2%	+0.1%	+0.9%	+0.7%
Prussia	+1.3%	+1.4%	+0.8%	+0.5%	+0.4%	+0.9%	+1.0%
Netherlands	+1.1%	+1.1%	+0.3%	−0.2%	+0.1%	+0.3%	+0.7%
United Kingdom*	+1.2%	+1.2%	+0.7%	+0.7%	+0.7%	+0,7%	+1.3%
Ireland	+0.4%	−0.2%	−4%	−4%	−4%	−4%	−1.7%
Notes: *excluding Ireland
Source: Eric Vanhaute, et al., The European subsistence crisis of 1845–1850: a comparative perspective