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Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for first time since its creation | UK News



The number of Catholics living in Northern Ireland outnumbers Protestants for the first time since it was founded, census figures show.

Figures for 2021 show that 45.7% of the population is Catholic, compared with 43.5% Protestant.

A decade ago, the previous census showed Protestants outnumbered Catholics by 48% to 45% after falling below 50% for the first time.

This change could boost support for the region to break away from Britain and join a united Ireland.

The 2021 figures also show that 9.3% of the population has no religion, up from 5.6% in 2011.

The state of Northern Ireland was created with the aim of maintaining a pro-British Protestant “trade unionist” majority as a counterweight to the newly independent and predominantly Catholic state of Ireland in the south.

At that time, the population was about two-thirds Protestant and one-third Catholic.

The census also asked about people’s sense of national identity, with 31.9% saying they were “only British” and 8% identifying themselves as “British and Northern Irish”.

The percentage who said they were “only Irish” was 29.1% while those who identified as “Northern Irish only” was 19.8%.

In the 2011 census, 40% said they had a British-only ethnic identity, 25% said they had an Irish-only identity, and 21% said their identity was only Northern Irish.

Colum Eastwood, leader of the moderate nationalist party in Ireland, SDLP, said the change revealed in the latest census figures was “a pivotal moment in the history of modern Ireland”. should not be disregarded.

The census also showed a 63.5% increase in the number of people in Northern Ireland holding an Irish passport.

Brexit was certainly a factor in that increase as people looked for Irish passports to keep EU rights when the UK left the bloc.



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