Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
Northern Ireland - Statistics and Facts
Northern Ireland is the northeastern part of the island of Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom, and borders the Republic of Ireland to the south. As of 2023 the population of Northern Ireland was estimated to be 1.92 million, with around 348,000 people living in the capital, and largest city of Belfast. The region has a politically complex history with regard to the religious and national identity of it's inhabitants, which, broadly speaking, associates Protestantism with British Unionism, and Catholicism with Irish unity. Between the late 1960s and late 1990s, these differences erupted into a three-decade long conflict between these two communities known as the Troubles, with much of the violence ending after the Good Friday agreement of 1998. In recent years, the issue of Brexit has added an extra-dimension to the status of Northern Ireland, especially regarding trade on the UK's only land border, between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
