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Geography of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland
Tuaisceart Éireann  (Irish)
Norlin Airlann   (Ulster Scots)
Location of  Northern Ireland  (dark green)– in Europe  (green & dark grey)– in the United Kingdom  (green)
Location of  Northern Ireland  (dark green)

– in Europe  (green & dark grey)
– in the United Kingdom  (green)

Status Country
Capital
and largest city
Belfast
54°36′N 5°55′W / 54.600°N 5.917°W / 54.600; -5.917
Languages English
Regional languages
Ethnic groups (2011)
Type Constituent unit
Government Consociational devolved legislature within unitary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch
Vacant
Vacant
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Theresa May
James Brokenshire
18 MPs (of 650)
Legislature Northern Ireland Assembly
Devolution
3 May 1921
18 July 1973
17 July 1974
19 November 1998
Area
• Total
14,130 km2 (5,460 sq mi)
Population
• 2017 estimate
1,868,700
• 2011 census
1,810,863
• Density
132/km2 (341.9/sq mi)
GDP (PPP) 2014 estimate
• Total
€41 billion
• Per capita
€22,400
GDP (nominal) 2014 estimate
• Total
€42 billion
• Per capita
€23,400
Currency Pound sterling (GBP)
Time zone GMT (UTC​)
• Summer (DST)
BST (UTC+1)
Date format dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Drives on the left
Calling code +44
ISO 3166 code GB-NIR
  1. ^ Northern Ireland has no official language. English serves as the de facto language of government and diplomacy and has been established through precedent. Irish and Ulster Scots are officially recognised by Her Majesty's Government as minority languages.
  2. ^ +44 is always followed by 28 when calling landlines. The code is 028 within the UK and 048 from the Republic of Ireland where it is treated as a local call.
Cities and towns by population

Belfast City Hall, October 2010 (01).JPG
Belfast
Guildhall, Derry, August 2010.JPG
Derry

# Settlement Population Metro population

Lisburn Market House.JPG
Lisburn
Newry Townhall - geograph.org.uk - 1476695.jpg
Newry

1 Belfast 276,705 579,726
2 Derry 83,652 90,663
3 Lisburn 71,403
4 Newtownabbey 62,022
5 Bangor 58,368
6 Greater Craigavon 57,651
7 Castlereagh 54,636
8 Ballymena 28,704
9 Newtownards 27,795
10 Newry 27,300

– in Europe  (green & dark grey)
– in the United Kingdom  (green)

Northern Ireland (Irish: Tuaisceart Éireann [ˈt̪ˠuəʃcəɾˠt̪ˠ ˈeːɾʲən̪ˠ]; Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a top-level constituent unit of the United Kingdom in the northeast of Ireland. It is variously described as a country, province, region, or "part" of the United Kingdom, amongst other terms. Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the UK's population. Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the British government. Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland in some areas, and the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to "put forward views and proposals" with "determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments".

Northern Ireland was created in 1921, when Ireland was partitioned between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland by an act of the British parliament. Unlike Southern Ireland, which would become the Irish Free State in 1922, the majority of Northern Ireland's population were unionists, who wanted to remain within the United Kingdom, most of whom were the Protestant descendants of colonists from Great Britain; however, a significant minority, mostly Catholics, were nationalists who wanted a united Ireland independent of British rule. Today, the former generally see themselves as British and the latter generally see themselves as Irish, while a distinct Northern Irish or Ulster identity is claimed both by a large minority of Catholics and Protestants and by many of those who are non-aligned.


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