Descriptions

There is no generally accepted term to describe what Northern Ireland is: province, region, country or something else.^[6][7][8]The choice of term can be controversial and can reveal the writer's political preferences.^[7] This has been noted as a problem by several writers on Northern Ireland, with no generally recommended solution.^[6][7][8]

Owing in part to the way in which the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland came into being, there is no legally defined term to describe what Northern Ireland 'is'. There is also no uniform or guiding way to refer to Northern Ireland amongst the agencies of the UK government. For example, the websites of the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom^[81] and the UK Statistics Authority describe the United Kingdom as being made up of four countries, one of these being Northern Ireland.^[82] Other pages on the same websites refer to Northern Ireland specifically as a "province" as do publications of the UK Statistics Authority.^[83][84] The website of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency also refers to Northern Ireland as being a province^[85] as does the website of the Office of Public Sector Information^[86] and other agencies within Northern Ireland.^[87] Publications of HM Treasury^[88] and the Department of Finance and Personnel of the Northern Ireland Executive,^[89] on the other hand, describe Northern Ireland as being a "region of the UK". The UK's submission to the 2007United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names defines the UK as being made up of two countries (England and Scotland), one principality (Wales) and one province (Northern Ireland).^[90]

Unlike England, Scotland and Wales, Northern Ireland has no history of being an independent country or of being a nation in its own right.^[91] Some writers describe the United Kingdom as being made up of three countries and one province^[92] or point out the difficulties with calling Northern Ireland a country.^[93] Authors writing specifically about Northern Ireland dismiss the idea that Northern Ireland is a "country" in general terms,^{[6][8][94][95]} and draw contrasts in this respect with England, Scotland and Wales.^[96] Even for the period covering the first 50 years of Northern Ireland's existence, the term country is considered inappropriate by some political scientists on the basis that many decisions were still made in London.^[91] The absence of a distinct nation of Northern Ireland, separate within the island of Ireland, is also pointed out as being a problem with using the term^[8][97][98] and is in contrast to England, Scotland, and Wales.^[99]

Many commentators prefer to use the term "province", although that is also not without problems. It can arouse irritation, particularly among nationalists, for whom the title province is properly reserved for the traditional province of Ulster, of which Northern Ireland comprises six out of nine counties.^[7][93] The BBC style guide is to refer to Northern Ireland as a province, and use of the term is common in literature and newspaper reports on Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. Some authors have described the meaning of this term as being equivocal: referring to Northern Ireland as being a province both of the United Kingdom and of the traditional country of Ireland.^[97]

"Region" is used by several UK government agencies and the European Union. Some authors choose this word but note that it is "unsatisfactory".^[7][8] Northern Ireland can also be simply described as "part of the UK", including by UK government offices.^[81]

Economy

Main articles: Economy of Northern Ireland and Transport in Northern Ireland

Goliath crane of Harland & Wolff inBelfast.

The Northern Ireland economy is the smallest of the four economies making up the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland has traditionally had an industrial economy, most notably in shipbuilding, rope manufacture and textiles, but most heavy industry has since been replaced by services, primarily the public sector.

Tourism also plays a big role in the local economy. More recently the economy has benefited from major investment by many large multi-national corporations into high tech industry. These large organisations are attracted by government subsidies and the skilled workforce in Northern Ireland.

The local economy has seen contraction during the recent global economic downturn, in response the Northern Ireland Assembly has sent trade missions to countries including the USA, India and plan to visit China. Along with this, the Assembly are in discussion with the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osbourne in order to gain taxation powers, which would enable the Northern Ireland Corporation Tax rate to be reduced in line with that of the Republic of Ireland.

Transport

Main article: Transport in Northern Ireland

A NIR train

Northern Ireland is served by three airports – Belfast International near Antrim,George Best Belfast City integrated into the railway network at Sydenham in East Belfast, and City of Derry in County Londonderry.

Major sea ports at Larne and Belfast carry passengers and freight between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Passenger railways are operated by Northern Ireland Railways. With Iarnrod Éireann(Irish Rail), Northern Ireland Railways co-operates in providing the joint Enterpriseservice between Dublin Connolly and Belfast Central. Main railway lines linking to and from Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station and Belfast Central are:

· The Derry Line and the Portrush Branch.

· The Larne Line

· The Bangor Line

· The Portadown Line

Main motorways are:

· M1 connecting Belfast to the south and west, ending in Dungannon

· M12 connecting the M1 to Portadown

· M2 connecting Belfast to the north. An unconnected section of the M2 also by-passes Ballymena

· M22 connecting the M2 to near Randalstown

· M3 connecting the M1 and M2 in Belfast with the A2 dual carriageway to Bangor

· M5 connecting Belfast to Newtownabbey

The cross-border road connecting the ports of Larne in Northern Ireland and Rosslare Harbour in the Republic of Ireland is being upgraded as part of an EU-funded scheme. European route E01 runs from Larne through the island of Ireland, Spain and Portugal to Seville.

Demography

Main articles: Demography of Northern Ireland and Religion in Northern Ireland

Religion or religion brought up in from the 2011 census

The population of Northern Ireland has increased annually since 1978. The population in 2011 was 1.811 million, having grown 7.5% over the previous decade^[100] from just under 1.7 million in the 2001 UK census. This constitutes just under 3% of the population of the United Kingdom (62 million) and just over 28% of the population of the island of Ireland (6.3 million).

In terms of ethnicity, the population of Northern Ireland is almost entirely white (98.2%).^[100] 91% of people are Northern Ireland born, with 4.8% being born elsewhere in the UK and 2.3% being born in the Republic of Ireland. Irish Travellers accounted for 0.33% of the population. The largest non-white ethnic groups were Chinese (6,300) and Indian (6,200). Black people of various origins accounted for 0.2% of the 2011 population of Northern Ireland and people of mixed ethnicity accounted for 0.2%.^[101]

In the 2011 census, 41.56% of the population identified as belonging to Protestant or other non-Roman Catholic Christian denominations. The largest of these denominations were the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the Church of Irelandand the Methodist Church in Ireland being 19%, 14% and 3% of the total population respectively. The largest single denomination is the Roman Catholic Church, to which is the 41% of the population identified. 0.8% identified with non-Christian religions or Philosophies, while 17% identified with no religion or did not state one.^[102] In terms of community background (i.e. one's own religion or the religion one was brought up in), 48% of the Northern Ireland's population came from a Protestant background, 45% came from a Catholic background, 0.9% from non-Christian backgrounds and 5.6% non-religious backgrounds in the same census.^[102]

Cities and towns by population[103]
Belfast Derry	#	Settlement	Population	Metro population	Lisburn Newry
	Belfast	276,705	579,726
	Derry	83,652	90,663
	Lisburn[104]	71,403
	Newtownabbey[104]	62,022
	Bangor[104]	58,368
	Craigavon	57,651
	Castlereagh[104]	54,636
	Ballymena	28,704
	Newtownards	27,795
	Newry	27,300

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