Ireland has always been seen as a country of emigration rather than immigration. The 1911 census reported only 18,905 foreign-born (non-United Kingdom) residents in Ireland, with two-thirds of this number having been born in America. The largest number of non-UK residents consisted of 1,985 Russian-bom residents (nearly all of whom were of Jewish ethnicity), 1,104 French residents, 963 immigrants were from the territories of the German Empire, 417 Italians, 283 from the Low Countries and 312 from Scandinavia. Of the total population of England, Scotland and Wales at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. only 0.69% was of non-British nationality; for Ireland the figure was even less at 0.37%. Even though these figures were miniscule for the overall population of both islands, the government's actions and policies concerning these minorities proved influential in moulding British wartime legislation.
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