Catholic-Protestant census figures by council

The Census 2021 figures, published on Thursday, show that 45.7% of the region’s population said they were either Catholic or brought up as a Catholic.

The figures for Protestants (and other Christian faiths) was 43.5% while 1.5% were from non-Christian religions.

The News Letter has broken the percentage Catholic and Protestant figures down by council area below, rounded up to the nearest figure.

•Antrim Newtownabbey

Catholic:31%

Protestant:55%

•Armagh Ban/Craig

Catholic:44%

Protestant:47%

•Belfast City Council

Catholic:49%

Protestant:36%

•Causeway Coast Glens

Catholic:40%

Protestant:51%

• Derry City Strabane

Catholic:73%

Protestant:23%

•Fermanagh and Omagh

Catholic:64%

Protestant:31%

•Lisburn Castlereagh

Catholic:27%

Protestant:58%

•Mid and East Antrim

Catholic:20%

Protestant:67%

•Mid Ulster

Catholic:65%

Protestant:30%

•Newry Mourne Down

Catholic:72%

Protestant:22%

•Ards and North Down

Catholic: 14%

Protestant:68%

In 2021, the main religions in NI were: Catholic (42.3 per cent); Presbyterian (16.6 per cent); Church of Ireland (11.5 per cent); Methodist (2.3 per cent); Other Christian denominations (6.9 per cent); and Other Religions (1.3 per cent).

In addition 17.4 per cent of our population had ‘No religion’ – this is a marked increase on 2011 when 10.1 per cent had ‘No religion’. This points to the increased secularisation of our population.

The proportion of the population in Census 2021 with ‘No religion’ ranges from 30.6 per cent in Ards & North Down council to 7.8 per cent in Mid Ulster council. All councils are more secular in 2021 than they were ten years ago.

Northern Ireland had a significant Protestant majority when it was established in 1921 as part of the partition of Ireland.

The last census, in 2011, recorded 48.4% of the population as being either Protestant or brought up Protestant, down almost five percentage points from 53.1% in 2001.

The Catholic population stood at 45.1% in the 2011 census, up from 43.8% in 2001.

The 2021 Census showed 9.3% of the population did not belong to any religion were not brought up in any religion – up from 5.6% in 2011.

The publication of the census traditionally prompts debate over what the figures mean for the constitutional future of Northern Ireland.

Some may draw a link between the religious breakdown and public opinion on the potential reunification of Ireland.

Others view religious affiliation as a crude metric to measure sentiment on the constitutional question, insisting that being a Protestant or Catholic does not necessarily translate into unionist or nationalist politics. In that respect, more emphasis may be placed on the census figures on national identity.