The population of Northern Ireland was 1.93 million people in 2024, compared with 1.84 million ten years earlier in 2013. Since 1971, the population of Northern Ireland has increased by approximately 387,500 people.

National population projections by age and gender are produced every two years for the UK and each of the UK constituent countries by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on behalf of the National Statistician and the Registrars General of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Principal Projections are produced based on long-term assumptions about future fertility, mortality and migration levels, with variant projections being produced from various alternative assumptions – usually in the form of high/low variants and their combinations. National population projections provide an estimate of the future size and age structure of the population of Northern Ireland. Population projections are widely used in policy development in areas such as housing, healthcare and education.

National and subnational mid-year population estimates for the UK and its constituent countries by administrative area, age and sex (including components of population change, median age and population density).

Population estimates relate to the population as of 30th June each year, and therefore are often referred to as mid-year estimates. Population estimates for the 80 District Electoral Areas in Northern Ireland are presented by sex and broad age bands (0-15, 16-39, 40-64 and 65+) for mid-2011 to mid-2020.

This statistic illustrates the total housing stock per 1,000 population in Northern Ireland from 2008/2009 to 2019/2020. It can be seen that between the years of ******* and ******* the total housing stock per 1,000 population in Northern Ireland did not note a significant increase.

In 2021, there were **** 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 **** to **** but started to decline gradually until 2012 when it dropped from **** to **** in just one year. During this provided time period, the birth rate in Northern Ireland was highest in 1971, when it was **** 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 **** births per 1,000 people in 2020, before a slight uptick to **** in 2021. After a postwar peak of **** births per 1,000 people in 1964, the UK birth rate fell sharply to just **** by 1977. Between 1977 and 2012 the birth rate fluctuated between **** and ****, 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 ****, compared with **** in 1964. Since 1973, the UK has fallen below the minimum replacement level fertility rate of ***, 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 2025, Africa was, at ****, the only continent to have a fertility rate higher than the global average of ****. 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 **** in 1960 to just **** by 2020. By the *****, it is expected that, as Africa's fertility rate converges with the rest of the world, the global population will peak at around **** billion and start to decline.

The total population of Ireland was 5.42 million people in 2024. Between 1980 and 2024, the total population rose by 1.99 million people, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. The total population will steadily rise by 290,000 people over the period from 2024 to 2030, reflecting a clear upward trend.This indicator describes the total population in the country at hand. This total population of the country consists of all persons falling within the scope of the census.

WorldPop produces different types of gridded population count datasets, depending on the methods used and end application. Please make sure you have read our Mapping Populations overview page before choosing and downloading a dataset.


Bespoke methods used to produce datasets for specific individual countries are available through the WorldPop Open Population Repository (WOPR) link below. These are 100m resolution gridded population estimates using customized methods ("bottom-up" and/or "top-down") developed for the latest data available from each country. They can also be visualised and explored through the woprVision App.
The remaining datasets in the links below are produced using the "top-down" method, with either the unconstrained or constrained top-down disaggregation method used. Please make sure you read the Top-down estimation modelling overview page to decide on which datasets best meet your needs. Datasets are available to download in Geotiff and ASCII XYZ format at a resolution of 3 and 30 arc-seconds (approximately 100m and 1km at the equator, respectively):

- Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 ( 1km resolution ): Consistent 1km resolution population count datasets created using unconstrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020.
- Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 ( 100m resolution ): Consistent 100m resolution population count datasets created using unconstrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020.
- Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 UN adjusted ( 100m resolution ): Consistent 100m resolution population count datasets created using unconstrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020 and adjusted to match United Nations national population estimates (UN 2019)
-Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 UN adjusted ( 1km resolution ): Consistent 1km resolution population count datasets created using unconstrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020 and adjusted to match United Nations national population estimates (UN 2019).
-Unconstrained global mosaics 2000-2020 ( 1km resolution ): Mosaiced 1km resolution versions of the "Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020" datasets.
-Constrained individual countries 2020 ( 100m resolution ): Consistent 100m resolution population count datasets created using constrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for 2020.
-Constrained individual countries 2020 UN adjusted ( 100m resolution ): Consistent 100m resolution population count datasets created using constrained top-down methods for all countries of the World for 2020 and adjusted to match United Nations national population estimates (UN 2019).

Older datasets produced for specific individual countries and continents, using a set of tailored geospatial inputs and differing "top-down" methods and time periods are still available for download here: Individual countries and Whole Continent.

Data for earlier dates is available directly from WorldPop.

WorldPop (www.worldpop.org - School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton; Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of Louisville; Departement de Geographie, Universite de Namur) and Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University (2018). Global High Resolution Population Denominators Project - Funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1134076). https://dx.doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/WP00645

The population of the United Kingdom in 2024 was estimated to be approximately 69.3 million, with over 9.6 million people living in South East England. London had the next highest population, at almost 9.1 million people, followed by the North West England at 7.7 million. With the UK's population generally concentrated in England, most English regions have larger populations than the constituent countries of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, which had populations of 5.5 million, 3.2 million, and 1.9 million respectively. English counties and cities The United Kingdom is a patchwork of various regional units, within England the largest of these are the regions shown here, which show how London, along with the rest of South East England had around 18 million people living there in this year. The next significant regional units in England are the 47 metropolitan and ceremonial counties. After London, the metropolitan counties of the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, and West Yorkshire were the biggest of these counties, due to covering the large urban areas of Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds respectively. Regional divisions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland The smaller countries that comprise the United Kingdom each have different local subdivisions. Within Scotland these are called council areas, whereas in Wales the main regional units are called unitary authorities. Scotland's largest Council Area by population is that of Glasgow City at over 650,000, while in Wales, it was the Cardiff Unitary Authority at around 384,000. Northern Ireland, on the other hand, has eleven local government districts, the largest of which is Belfast with a population of approxiamtely 352,000.

This dataset provides population estimates for the local authorities in Wales, the English regions and the UK countries for the period from 1991 onwards by sex and single year of age, together with some aggregated age groups. It should be noted that for mid-2020 there are some definitional changes (particularly affecting the migration components) compared with mid-2019 population estimates data and it is advised users read the Quality and Methodology Information section on the Office for National Statistics website. For Wales, England, and Northern Ireland, the mid-2021 population estimates are the first population estimates to be based on the 2021 censuses for these countries. For Scotland, the census was moved to 2022. The mid-2022 population estimates are the first population estimates to be based on the 2022 Census for Scotland. Internal migration estimates for mid-2023 have been produced using a different method to previous years, following a change to the variables available in the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data. This material is Crown Copyright and may be re-used (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence.

The Health Survey Northern Ireland (HSNI) was commissioned by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland and the Central Survey Unit (CSU) of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) carried out the survey on their behalf. This survey series has been running on a continuous basis since April 2010 with separate modules for different policy areas included in different financial years. It covers a range of health topics that are important to the lives of people in Northern Ireland. The HSNI replaces the previous Northern Ireland Health and Social Wellbeing Survey (available under SNs 4589, 4590 and 5710).

Adult BMI, height and weight measurements, accompanying demographic and derived variables, geography, and a BMI weighting variable, are available in separate datasets for each survey year.

Further information is available from the https://www.nisra.gov.uk/health-survey-northern-ireland" title="Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency">Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and the https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/doh-statistics-and-research/health-survey-northern-ireland" title="Department of Health (Northern Ireland)">Department of Health (Northern Ireland) survey webpages.

The Health Survey Northern Ireland, 2020-2021 provides a source of information on a wide range of health issues relevant to Northern Ireland. The information collected is pursuing the development of policies aimed at improving the health and well-being of the Northern Ireland population.

In 1821, the population of the island of Ireland was just over 6.8 million people. During this time, the entire island was a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, after both islands were united by the Act of Union in 1800. The population enjoyed steady growth between 1821 and 1841, and it rose by almost 1.4 million people in this time, however the Great Famine, which lasted from 1845 to 1849, had a devastating impact on the population, causing it to drop from 8.18 million in 1841 to 6.55 million in 1851. If applying modern-day borders, the population of Northern Ireland was not growing as fast as the population of the Republic of Ireland before 1841, however it was not as severely affected by the famine, which was hardest felt in the east and south. The Great Hunger The famine was caused by a Europe-wide potato blight that contributed to mass starvation and death throughout the continent, although it's impact on Ireland was much harsher than anywhere else. The potato blight affected Ireland so severely as the majority of potatoes in Ireland were of a single variety which allowed the disease to spread much faster than in other countries. As the potato blight spread, the population became increasingly dependent on dairy and grain products, however a lot of these resources were relocated by the British military to combat food shortages in Britain. Due to disproportional dependency on potatoes, and mismanagement by the British government, over one million people died and a further one million emigrated. The Great Famine lasted from just 1845 to 1849, but it's legacy caused almost a century of population decline, and to this day, the overall population of Ireland has never exceeded it's pre-famine levels. Decline continues through partition The population decline continued well into the twentieth century, during which time the Republic of Ireland achieved independence from the British Empire. After centuries of fighting and rebellion against British rule, Irish nationalists finally gained independence from Britain in 1921, although the six counties with the largest Protestant populations formed Northern Ireland, which is still a part of the United Kingdom today. Although there was much conflict in Ireland in the twentieth century which claimed the lives of thousands of people (particularly during the Northern Irish Troubles), and despite Ireland's high emigration rate, the overall population began growing again in the second half of the 1900s. Recovery The population of the Republic of Ireland was at it's lowest in 1961, with 2.8 million people, which is almost four million fewer people than before the famine. Since then it has grown consistently, reaching 4.6 million in 2011 and expected to reach 5 million people by 2020. In Northern Ireland, the population began growing again from the beginning of the 1900s, but growth has been very slow. The only time it fell was in the 1970s, at the peak of The Troubles, where high unemployment and violence contributed to a lower birth rate and an increase in emigration. From the 1980s onwards, living standards improved and the population began growing again, reaching 1.8 million people in 2011.

Migration indicators from ONS and DWP. The table below details the sources of the datasets available and the dates of their next update. Migration Statistics Quarterly Report Statistical bulletins, ONS 26 November 2020 National Insurance numbers issued to overseas nationals, Stats-Xplore, DWP. 26 November 2020 Population Estimates for UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, ONS June 2021 Local area migration indicators suite, ONS. TBA Internal migration - Detailed estimates dataset by origin and destination local authorities, sex and single year of age, ONS. June 2021 Population of the UK by country of birth and nationality, ONS. November 2020 Short term international migration for England and Wales – accompanying data Discontinued - latest available data for 2017

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Health Survey Northern Ireland (HSNI) was commissioned by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland and the Central Survey Unit (CSU) of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) carried out the survey on their behalf. This survey series has been running on a continuous basis since April 2010 with separate modules for different policy areas included in different financial years. It covers a range of health topics that are important to the lives of people in Northern Ireland. The HSNI replaces the previous Northern Ireland Health and Social Wellbeing Survey (available under SNs 4589, 4590 and 5710).

Adult BMI, height and weight measurements, accompanying demographic and derived variables, geography, and a BMI weighting variable, are available in separate datasets for each survey year.

Further information is available from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and the Department of Health (Northern Ireland) survey webpages.

The Health Survey Northern Ireland, 2020-2021 provides a source of information on a wide range of health issues relevant to Northern Ireland. The information collected is pursuing the development of policies aimed at improving the health and well-being of the Northern Ireland population.

Topics covered included: general health, long-term conditions, smoking, e-cigarettes, alcohol consumption, physical activity, mental health (including GHQ12), wellbeing, loneliness, social support and stress.

Period life expectancy by age and sex for Northern Ireland. Each national life table is based on population estimates, births and deaths for a period of three consecutive years. Tables are published annually.