List of districts in Northern Ireland by community make-up

This is a list of Local Government Districts in Northern Ireland, broken down by their Protestant/Catholic make-up.

In the 2001 decennial census, the Census Office for Northern Ireland (CONI) asked a new question to attempt to achieve a more accurate depiction of the balance of the mainly unionist Protestant and mainly nationalist Catholic communities across Northern Ireland.

As well as asking the traditional question of "Religion?" - to which over 13% of respondents gave no answer - it also asked "Religion brought up in?" to capture those who are no longer religiously active themselves. The combination of the two questions gives a community background by religion for over 97% of the population.

These figures are presented here as the best assessment available of the community balance, without implying any particular significance to the absolute figures. Not all Protestants are unionists, and not all Catholics are nationalist. For information on recent communal conflicts in Northern Ireland, see the Troubles.

These figures at district level mask wide variations on smaller scales. In the Belfast City Council area, the figures at ward level vary from 95% Protestant to 99% Catholic.

Local Council areas with Protestant majorities

Key District Protestant Catholic Majority
8 Carrickfergus 85.1 8.7 76.4
2 Ards 82.5 12.6 69.9
24 North Down 80.5 12.6 67.9
9 Castlereagh 76.9 18.3 58.7
23 Newtownabbey 76.2 19.4 56.8
4 Ballymena 76.3 21.0 55.3
17 Larne 71.7 25.2 46.6
10 Coleraine 69.4 27.2 42.2
6 Banbridge 66.0 31.5 34.6
5 Ballymoney 66.2 31.9 34.3
19 Lisburn 62.8 33.4 29.4
1 Antrim 56.7 38.6 18.0
12 Craigavon 52.9 44.7 8.2
7 Belfast 48.6 47.2 1.4

    

Local Council areas with Catholic majorities

Key District Catholic Protestant Majority
22 Newry and Mourne 80.6 18.5 62.2
13 Derry 75.4 23.2 52.2
25 Omagh 69.1 29.7 39.4
26 Strabane 66.2 33.3 32.9
11 Cookstown 65.2 33.6 31.1
20 Magherafelt 64.1 34.8 29.3
14 Down 61.9 35.5 26.5
15 Dungannon and South Tyrone 60.8 38.2 22.6
21 Moyle 60.3 38.3 22.0
16 Fermanagh 58.7 39.8 18.9
18 Limavady 56.6 41.6 15.0
3 Armagh 50 48.7 1.3

See also

References

External links