Religion in Northern Ireland

[1] The Catholic Church has seen a small growth in adherents, while the other recorded Christian groups have seen a decrease.

[6] The religious affiliations in the local authority districts (themselves not merged since 2011" of Northern Ireland were as follows: Religions broken down by place of birth in the 2011 census.

[7] The religious affiliations in the different age bands in the 2011 census were as follows:[7] Christianity is the main religion in Northern Ireland.

[10] In the 2011 census Northern Ireland had substantially more people stating that they were Christian (82.2%) than did England (59.4%), Scotland (53.8%) or Wales (57.6%).

[11][12][13][14] The proportion who stated that they had any religion was also higher in Northern Ireland (83%) than in England (68.1%), Scotland (56.3%) or Wales (60.3%).

[11][12][13][14] In Northern Ireland those who did not state any religion in the 2011 census amounted to 13.9% of the population, lower than in England (31.9%), Scotland (43.7%) or Wales (39.7%).

[11][12][13][14] Secularisation in Northern Ireland has followed different paths within each of the two main communities, being at a more advanced stage within the mainly Protestant community in which it is reflected more often with a formal move away from the churches and by expressing no formal religious attachment, mirroring the pattern in Great Britain, whereas in the mainly Catholic community it is reflected by declining mass attendance but often with retaining a formal Catholic identification, mirroring the pattern in the Republic of Ireland.

[19] The earliest recorded Jew living in Northern Ireland was a tailor by the name of Manuel Lightfoot in 1652.

[27] Hinduism is a relatively minor religion in Northern Ireland with only around 200 Hindu families in the region.

Its participants included politicians and political activists on both sides, republican and loyalist paramilitary organisations, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the British Army and the security forces of the Republic of Ireland.