Northern Ireland has more Catholics than Protestants for the first time

Northern Ireland has more Catholics than Protestants for the first time, census results showed on Thursday, a historic shift that some consider likely to help spur support for the region to secede from the UK and join. to a united Ireland.

About 45.7% of respondents identified as Catholic or were raised Catholic, compared with 43.5% who identified as Protestant, 2021 census data showed.

A decade ago, the previous census showed that Protestants outnumbered Catholics by 48% to 45%, after falling below the 50% mark for the first time.

The change comes a century after the state of Northern Ireland was established to maintain a pro-British Protestant majority as a counterweight to the newly independent, predominantly Catholic Irish state to the south.

Source: CNN Brasil

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