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The census collects information every 10 years about people and households in Northern Ireland (Stock image by Stephen Hamilton/Presseye.com)
The census collects information every 10 years about people and households in Northern Ireland
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Mark Bain Twitter Email
Results of the Northern Ireland census, carried out in 2021, will be published at 9.30am on Thursday. It will offer a broad picture of the current population make-up.
While much of the attention will be focused on the religious make-up of Northern Ireland — the number of Catholics versus the number of Protestants — it will tell us much more about the country, the age of the population, the changes in ethnicity and the overall picture on national identity.
Here are five key areas to watch out for:
The religious breakdown
This will be the headline story. The previous census, in 2011, showed Northern Ireland’s population to be 48% Protestant and 45% Catholic, while 7% said they belonged to another religion or none. Prior to that, the 2001 census revealed 53% were Protestant and 44% were Catholic. It’s expected, for the first time, that the Catholic population will be larger than Protestant, in line with the shifting trend over the past few decades. The religion of upbringing of the resident population will also be revealed.
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The census collects information every 10 years about people and households in Northern Ireland
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The national identity
This will show how much of the population view themselves as British, Irish, Northern Irish or something else. It will be another statistic prompting debate over the merits of a united Ireland border poll.
The age and sex breakdown
This will show how much sections of the population of Northern Ireland has grown or declined by, whether the population is getting older and whether there are increasing numbers of male or female residents. It will have long-term effects on planning at government level. Is the number of elderly people increasing while the number of younger residents falling? It all has a major impact on the future of education and school places and the provision of state pensions and pressure on the health service. The number and size of households will also be revealed.
The country of birth
Is the number of people immigrating to Northern Ireland to work and live on the increase? Immigration data will also alter statistics on religion, including the movement of people from majority-Catholic Poland and other eastern European countries to Northern Ireland.
The ethnicity
This statistic will show just how much of a multicultural society Northern Ireland is becoming. If immigration to Northern Ireland is increasing, where are people coming from to live here? Statistics on language skills (including use of Irish and Ulster-Scots and English as a first language) will also feed in. Many people will identify as citizens of Britain/Ireland but come from a different ethnic background.
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