atholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Eire for the primary time because the partition of the island, census figures present.
The Census 2021 figures, printed on Thursday, present that 45.7% of the area’s inhabitants stated they had been both Catholic or introduced up as a Catholic.
The figures for Protestants (and different Christian faiths) was 43.5% whereas 1.5% had been from non-Christian religions.
Northern Eire had a major Protestant majority when it was established in 1921 as a part of the partition of Eire.
- 2001 – 43.8%
- 2011 – 45.1%
- 2021 – 45.7%
The final census, in 2011, recorded 48.4% of the inhabitants as being both Protestant or introduced up Protestant, down nearly 5 share factors from 53.1% in 2001.
The Catholic inhabitants stood at 45.1% within the 2011 census, up from 43.8% in 2001.
The 2021 Census confirmed 9.3% of the inhabitants didn’t belong to any faith weren’t introduced up in any faith – up from 5.6% in 2011.
The publication of the census historically prompts debate over what the figures imply for the constitutional way forward for Northern Eire.
Some might draw a hyperlink between the non secular breakdown and public opinion on the potential reunification of Eire.
Others view non secular affiliation as a crude metric to measure sentiment on the constitutional query, insisting that being a Protestant or Catholic doesn’t essentially translate into unionist or nationalist politics.
In that respect, extra emphasis could also be positioned on the census figures on nationwide identification.
- 2001 – 53.1%
- 2011 – 48.4%
- 2021 – 43.5%
Census 2021 confirmed that 31.9% stated they had been “British-only” and eight% deemed themselves “British and Northern Irish”.
The proportion of the inhabitants that stated they had been “Irish-only” was 29.1% whereas these figuring out as “Northern Irish-only” was 19.8%.
In Census 2011, when the query on nationwide identification was included for the primary time, 40% stated that they had a British-only nationwide identification, 6% stated they had been British and Northern Irish, 25% stated they had been Irish-only, and 21% considered their identification as solely Northern Irish.
The Census additionally confirmed a 63.5% improve within the variety of individuals in Northern Eire who maintain an Irish passport.
The quantity of people that held an Irish passport rose from 375,800 in 2011 to 614,300 in 2021.
Brexit will undoubtedly have been one think about that surge, with individuals searching for an Irish passport to retain EU rights misplaced when the UK left the bloc.
The variety of individuals holding a UK passport in Northern Eire was a million within the newest census, down from 1.07 million in 2011.
Beneath the phrases of the 1998 Good Friday Settlement peace deal, the constitutional standing of Northern Eire might be modified solely with the consent of its inhabitants.
A Northern Eire secretary is obliged to name a referendum on Irish unity in the event that they consider there was a shift in public opinion that may point out a majority in favour of constitutional change.
Nonetheless, the 1998 peace accord supplied no element on what standards ought to be used to make this name.
The figures on faith and nationwide identification are a part of the second spherical of knowledge being printed from Census 2021.
The primary tranche of figures, printed in Could, associated to inhabitants and family numbers.
They confirmed that Northern Eire’s inhabitants had risen to a report of greater than 1.9 million.
Census 2021 was carried out on March 21 final yr.
The figures printed on Thursday additionally highlighted rising range throughout the inhabitants in Northern Eire.
The variety of individuals belonging to an ethnic minority rose to three.4% of the inhabitants (65,600), up from 1.8% in 2011 (32,400).
The quantity has risen four-fold in 20 years, from solely 0.8% (14,300) in 2001.
The variety of individuals residing in Northern Eire who had been born outdoors the UK and Eire has additionally grown, from 81,500 (4.5%) in 2011 to a report of 124,300 (6.5%) in 2021.
On census day 2021, 4.6% (85,100) of the inhabitants aged three or over had a principal language aside from English. In 2011, the proportion was 3.1% (54,500).
In 2021 essentially the most prevalent principal languages aside from English had been Polish (20,100), Lithuanian (9,000), Irish (6,000), Romanian (5,600) and Portuguese (5,000).
The census confirmed that 12.4% (228,600) of the inhabitants aged three and over had some capacity within the Irish language – up from 10.7% in 2011.
For Ulster Scots, 10.4% (190,600) had some capacity within the language, up from 8.1%.
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