In 2021, there were 11.6 births per 1,000 people in Northern Ireland, compared with eleven in the previous year. Between 2000 and 2008, Northern Ireland's birth rate increased from 12.8 to 14.4 but started to decline gradually until 2012 when it dropped from 13.9 to 13.3 in just one year. During this provided time period, the birth rate in Northern Ireland was highest in 1971, when it was 20.6 and was at its lowest in 2020 when there were just eleven births per 1,000 people. Falling birth rates in the UK For the United Kingdom as a whole, the birth rate fell to 10.2 births per 1,000 people in 2020, before a slight uptick to 10.4 in 2021. After a postwar peak of 18.8 births per 1,000 people in 1964, the UK birth rate fell sharply to just 11.7 by 1977. Between 1977 and 2012 the birth rate fluctuated between 11.3 and 13.9, but declined in every year between 2012 and 2020. In 2021, the UK's fertility rate (the number of births per women) fell to just 1.53, compared with 2.95 in 1964. Since 1973, the UK has fallen below the minimum replacement level fertility rate of 2.1, and without immigration would likely see its population decline in the long term. Global demographic trends The considerable decline in the UK's fertility rate in recent decades is not an isolated phenomenon. As of 2024, Africa was, at 4.12, the only continent to have a fertility rate higher than the global average of 2.31. Several countries, mainly in East Asia and Europe, have far lower fertility rates than the UK or the global average, however. South Korea provides the most dramatic example of this trend, with its fertility rate falling from 6.33 in 1960 to just 1.11 by 2020. By the 2080s, it is expected that, as Africa's fertility rate converges with the rest of the world, the global population will peak at around 10.4 billion and start to decline.

In 2021, the total fertility rate of Northern Ireland was 1.81, which was the lowest the rate has been during this time period.

In 2021 the live birth rate of the United Kingdom fell to 10.4 births per 1,000 population, the lowest it had been during this time period. The UK's birth rate has been declining steadily since 2010 when the birth rate was 12.9 births per 1,000 population. After 1938, the year with the highest birth rate in the UK was 1947, when the crude birth rate was 21.2 births per 1,000 population. Under two children per mother in 2021 The most recent crude live birth rate for this statistic is based on the 694,685 births, that occurred in 2021 as well as the mid-year population estimate of 67 million for the United Kingdom. It has a close relation to the fertility rate which estimates the average number of children women are expected to have in their lifetime, which was 1.53 in this reporting year. Among the constituent countries of the UK, Northern Ireland had the highest birth rate at 11.6, followed by England at 10.5, Wales at 9.3, and Scotland at 8.7. International comparisons The UK is not alone in seeing its birth and fertility rates decline dramatically in recent decades. Across the globe, fertility rates have fallen noticeably since the 1960s, with the fertility rate for Asia, Europe, and the Americas being below two in 2021. As of this year, the global fertility rate was 2.31, and was by far the highest in Africa, which had a fertility rate of 4.12, although this too has fallen from a high of 6.72 in the late 1960s. A reduction in infant mortality, as well as better access to contraception, are factors that have typically influenced declining fertility rates recently.

In the mid-1800s, women in Ireland could expect to have over four children throughout the course of their reproductive years. More so than most European countries, the total fertility rate of Ireland would be influenced not only by the number of births, which would remain largely high compared to much of the continent, but would rather be influenced by emigration from the country. While the largest wave of Irish emigration (driven by the Great Famine) occurred before the years shown, the spikes in 1870, and particularly the spikes of the 1940s to early 1960s, can be attributed in part to significant declines in emigration among young adult females (rather than an increase in the number of births).

Another significant impact on Ireland's fertility rate in the 20th century was the influence of the Catholic Church in Irish society, education and healthcare. The church controlled the majority of primary and secondary education establishments, as well as hospitals; their influence on government meant that contraception and divorce remained illegal until 1985 and 1996 respectively, while the prohibition of abortion was not repealed until 2018. The promotion of traditional Catholic family values saw Ireland's fertility rate peak at over four children per woman in the early 1960s (double replacement level), however the gradual liberalization of Irish society and the decline of the church's influence, saw Ireland's fertility rate drop below two births per woman by the 1990s. (below replacement level). While fertility has remained below replacement level in the past three decades, the country still remains above the European average, with a total fertility rate of more than 1.8 children per woman in 2020, compared to the continental average of 1.6 children.

12,1 (Rate) in 2018.

Among nations of the UK, Northern Ireland had the highest number of live births per 1,000 in 2021, at 11.6, followed by England at 10.5, Wales at 9.3, and Scotland at 8.7. The crude birth has fallen for all nations of the UK when compared with 1971, while Northern Ireland has consistently had the highest number of live births per 1,000 people. Long-term birth trends After reaching a postwar peak of 18.8 births per 1,000 people, the UK's crude birth rate has declined considerably, falling to a low of just 11 births per 1,000 people in 2020. In that year, there were just 681,560 live births, compared with over one million in 1964. Additionally, the average age of mothers in the UK has been steadily increasing since the mid-1970s. In 1975, for example, the average age at which mothers gave birth was 26.4 years, compared with 30.9 in 2021. Millennials overtake Boomers as largest generation Due to the large number of births that happened in the years following the Second World War, the generation born during this time were called Baby Boomers, and until 2020 were the largest generation in the UK. Since that year, the Millennial generation, born between 1981 and 1996 have been the largest generational cohort. In 2022, there were approximately 14.48 million Millennials, 14.14 million Generation X members (born between 1965 and 1980) and around 13.8 million Baby Boomers. Generation Z, the generation immediately after Millennials, numbered approximately 12.9 million in 2022.

There were 694,685 live births recorded in the United Kingdom in 2021, compared with 681,560 in the previous year. Between 1887 and 2021 the year with the highest number of live births was 1920 when there were approximately 1.13 million births, while the year with the fewest births was 1977, when there were just 657,038 births. Birth rate at a historic low in 2020 At 10.2 births per 1,000 people, the birth rate of the United Kingdom in 2020 was at a historic low. After witnessing a twenty-first century high of 12.9 in 2010, the birth rate gradually declined before a sharp decrease was recorded between 2012 and 2013. Although there was a slight uptick in the birth rate in 2021, when there were 10.4 births per 1,000 people, the total fertility rate reached a low of 1.53 births per woman in the same year. As well as falling birth and fertility rates, the average age of mothers has been increasing. In 1991, the average age of mothers at childbirth was 27.7 years, compared with 30.9 years in 2021. UK population reaches 67 million In 2022, the overall population of the United Kingdom was almost 67.6 million people. Of the four countries that comprise the UK, England has by far the highest population, at 57.1 million, compared with 5.45 million in Scotland, 3.13 million in Wales, and 1.91 million in Northern Ireland. These countries are far less densely populated than England, especially when compared to London, which had approximately 5,630 people per square kilometer, compared with just 70 in Scotland. After London, North West England was the second-most densely populated area of the UK, which includes the large metropolitan areas of the cities of Manchester, and Liverpool

This table provides Census 2021 estimates that classify people by Country of birth (12 categories) by Religion (8 categories) for Northern Ireland. The table contains 96 counts.

The census collected information on the usually resident population of Northern Ireland on census day (21 March 2021). Initial contact letters or questionnaire packs were delivered to every household and communal establishment, and residents were asked to complete online or return the questionnaire with information as correct on census day. Special arrangements were made to enumerate special groups such as students, members of the Travellers Community, HM Forces personnel etc. The Census Coverage Survey (an independent doorstep survey) followed between 12 May and 29 June 2021 and was used to adjust the census counts for under-enumeration.

Notes

1. 'EU' is the European Union and is as defined on census day (21 March 2021).
2. People who gave 'Cyprus' as their country of birth are included within the 'Europe: Other EU countries' category.
3. 'Europe: Other Non-EU countries' includes United Kingdom (part not specified) and Ireland (part not specified).
4. 'Religion' indicates religion, religious denomination or body.
5. 'Catholic' includes those who gave their current religion as Catholic or Roman Catholic.

Quality assurance report can be found here

Low fertility variant projection for Northern Ireland including population by broad age group, components of change and summary statistics.

These statistics contain the first phase of main statistics results from Census 2021. This phase provides estimates for a number of census topics, including passports held, ethnic group, national identity, language, and religion.

Data are available for Northern Ireland and the 11 Local Government Districts.

High fertility variant projection for Northern Ireland including population by broad age group, components of change and summary statistics.

1,86 (Children per woman) in 2018.

1,9 (Number) in 2018.

The 2021 Northern Ireland Census marked the first time since records began where the Catholic share of the population was larger than the combined Protestant share. In 2021, over 42 percent of the population classified themselves as Catholic or from a Catholic background, in comparison with 37 percent classified as Protestant or from a Protestant background. Additionally, the share of the population with no religion (or those who did not answer) was 19 percent; larger than any individual Protestant denomination. This marks a significant shift in demographic and societal trends over the past century, as Protestants outnumbered Catholics by roughly 2:1 when Northern Ireland was established in the 1920s. Given the Catholic community's historic tendency to be in favor of a united Ireland, many look to the changing religious composition of the population when assessing the potential for Irish reunification. Religion's historical influence A major development in the history of British rule in ireland was the Plantation of Ulster in the 1600s, where much of the land in the north (historically the most rebellious region) was seized from Irish Catholics and given to Protestant settlers from Britain (predominantly Scots). This helped establish Protestant dominance in the north, created a large section of the population loyal to the British crown, and saw a distinct Ulster-Scots identity develop over time. In the 1920s, the republican movement won independence for 26 of Ireland's 32 counties, however, the six counties in Ulster with the largest Protestant populations remained part of the UK, as Northern Ireland. Following partition, structural inequalities between Northern Ireland's Protestant and Catholic communities meant that the Protestant population was generally wealthier, better educated, more politically empowered, and had better access to housing, among other advantages. In the 1960s, a civil rights movement then emerged for equal rights and status for both sides of the population, but this quickly turned violent and escalated into a the three-decade long conflict now known as the Troubles.

The Troubles was largely fought between nationalist/republican paramilitaries (mostly Catholic), unionist/loyalist paramilitaries (mostly Protestant), and British security forces (including the police). This is often described as a religious conflict, however it is more accurately described as an ethnic and political conflict, where the Catholic community generally favored Northern Ireland's reunification with the rest of the island, while the Protestant community wished to remain in the UK. Paramilitaries had a large amount of support from their respective communities in the early years of the Troubles, but this waned as the conflict progressed into the 1980s and 1990s. Demographic and societal trends influenced the religious composition of Northern Ireland's population in these decades, as the Catholic community had higher fertility rates than Protestant communities, while the growing secularism has coincided with a decline in those identifying as Protestant - the dip in those identifying as Catholic in the 1970s and 1980s was due to a protest and boycott of the Census. The Troubles came to an end in 1998, and divisions between both sides of the community have drastically fallen, although they have not disappeared completely.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in Northern Ireland by their county of birth. The estimates are as at census day, 21 March 2021.

The census collected information on the usually resident population of Northern Ireland on census day (21 March 2021). Initial contact letters or questionnaire packs were delivered to every household and communal establishment, and residents were asked to complete online or return the questionnaire with information as correct on census day. Special arrangements were made to enumerate special groups such as students, members of the Travellers Community, HM Forces personnel etc. The Census Coverage Survey (an independent doorstep survey) followed between 12 May and 29 June 2021 and was used to adjust the census counts for under-enumeration.

This table reports the categories for which there are 10 or more usual residents. Where there are fewer than 10 usual residents for any category, these have been reported in a residual group which may or may not contain 10 or more usual residents in total.

'EU' is the European Union and is as defined on Census day (21 March 2021).

Quality assurance report can be found here

Dataset population: Persons aged 3 and over

Age

Age is derived from the date of birth question and is a person's age at their last birthday, at 27 March 2011. Dates of birth that imply an age over 115 are treated as invalid and the person's age is imputed. Infants less than one year old are classified as 0 years of age.

Main language

The language that is a person's first or preferred language.

This information helps central government, local authorities and the NHS to allocate resources and provide services for non-English speakers, for example English teaching and translation services. It is a better indicator than country of birth, which was previously used to forecast the additional cost of providing services to people whose first language is not English.

The data are also used to assess the impact of English or Welsh language ability on employment and other social inclusion indicators.

Information on the number of British Sign Language users helps with service planning and assists in developing policies to address the needs of the deaf community.

These statistics are used by public service providers to effectively target the delivery of their services, for example in the provision of translation and interpretation services, the availability of English language lessons, and the distribution of official information leaflets in alternative languages.

Sex

The classification of a person as either male or female.

This statistic displays the share of births taking place in fully accredited hospitals through the UNICEF Baby Friendly accreditation process in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019. In this year, 100 percent of births in Scotland and Northern Ireland took place in fully accredited hospitals.

This statistic shows the country of birth of residents of Northern Ireland on March 29, 2011, the day of the last National Census. 88.84 percent of the population were born in the Northern Ireland, and 2.09 percent were born across the border in the Republic of Ireland.

This report presents the latest figures on male and female health expectancy, at birth and at age 65, for the UK and its four constituent countries. While life expectancy (LE) provides an estimate of average expected life-span, healthy life expectancy (HLE) divides total LE into years spent in good or ‘not good’ health. Disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) divides LE into years lived with and without a chronic illness or disability. These figures are three-year averages. LE is taken from the UK national interim life tables published annually by ONS, and the measures of health and chronic illness from the General Household Survey (GHS) in Great Britain and the Continuous Household Survey (CHS) in Northern Ireland. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: National Health Expectancies