Northern Ireland

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Northern Ireland (English)
Tuaisceart Éireann (Irish)
Norlin Airlann (Ulster Scots)
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland flag
Northern Ireland coat of arms
former flag of Northern Ireland
(out of use since 1973) 		former coat of arms of Northern Ireland
(out of use since 1973)
Motto : " Dieu et mon droit "
French for "God and my law"
Official language English ( de facto ), Irish , Ulster Scots
Capital Belfast
Head of state Queen Elizabeth II ,

Minister for Northern Ireland
Brandon Lewis

Head of government First Secretary
Paul Givan
Deputy First Secretary
Michelle O'Neill
surface 13,843 km²
population 1,881,641 (2018)
Population density 136 inhabitants per km²
gross domestic product
  • Total (nominal)
  • Total ( PPP )
  • GDP / inh. (nominal)
  • GDP / inh. (KKP)
 (2013)
  • $ 49.3 billion
  • $ 45.3 billion
  • $ 26,920
  • $ 24,760
currency Pound sterling , £, GBP
founding 1921 by the Government of Ireland Act
National anthem God Save the Queen ,
Regional de facto: A Londonderry Air
Time zone UTC ± 0 GMT
UTC + 1 Wesz
ISO 3166 GB-NIR
NIR
Internet TLD .uk (for United Kingdom ) (unofficially also .ie in use for Ireland )
Phone code +44
Frankreich Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Irland Wales Nordirland England SchottlandNorthern Ireland in United Kingdom
About this picture
Map of Northern Ireland in 1998
Map of Northern Ireland in 1998
Template: Infobox State / Maintenance / NAME-GERMAN

Northern Ireland ( English Northern Ireland , Irish Tuaisceart Éireann ) is a country and part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . It consists of six of the nine counties of the historic Irish province of Ulster in the north of the island of Ireland .

Northern Ireland is more densely populated than the Republic of Ireland and has a higher degree of industrialization . In the meantime, however, the Republic of Ireland has a higher gross domestic product per capita.

geography

physical geography

Northern Ireland is the continuation of the landscape in northern England and southern Scotland to the west. The coastline is richly indented. As everywhere in the British Isles , the climate is oceanic and influenced by the Gulf Stream .

Northern Ireland has a north-south extension of 140 km. It is 180 km from east to west. The Northern Irish coast is about 500 km long. The island of Rathlin in the northeast is part of Northern Ireland. The border with the Republic of Ireland is almost 500 kilometers long. Northern Ireland's share of the entire Irish island is around 16 percent (while the proportion of the population is just under 30 percent).

There are three mountain ranges: in the northwest the Sperrin Mountains , in the northeast the Antrim Plateau (highest point: the Trostan, 551 m), in the southeast the Morne Mountains (852 m).

The largest lake in Northern Ireland (and also in the British Isles as a whole) is Lough Neagh west of Belfast with 392 square kilometers and a maximum depth of 25 m.

Important cities

history

Giant's Causeway

The division of Ireland into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland took place in 1921 after the Irish War of Independence .

Subsequently, the Catholic part of the population was disadvantaged when looking for work and accommodation . The society was divided politically into mostly Irish-born Catholic Republicans , who pursued the goal of reunification with the Republic of Ireland, and mostly Protestant Unionists or Royalists, who were descended from immigrants and wanted to remain in the United Kingdom.

politics

administration

Administrative division in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom but is not part of the United Kingdom . 1972 was Northern Ireland Ministry ( Northern Ireland Office , abbr. NIO) in London created, headed by a minister. Since 2019, this has been the conservative politician Julian Smith. The Ministry is responsible for criminal justice and the penal system , the police (see below), the welfare of victims of politically motivated crimes and, in the past (2002–2007, 2017–2020) when the regional government was directly subordinate to the central government, legal oversight through the authorities in Northern Ireland.

As in Wales and Scotland , Tony Blair's government implemented its policy of devolution in Northern Ireland and created a regional administration. In Northern Ireland there is the office of the executive (" First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland") as well as ten regional ministries, namely for:

One aspect of this construction is that the ministries of the Republic of Ireland have a counterpart not in London but in Belfast and the gradual integration of Ireland is thus promoted.

The budget of the Northern Ireland Government, the Northern Ireland Executive , is in high deficit. Less than two thirds of the expenditure is covered by income in Northern Ireland. The UK has to subsidize the Northern Irish government's spending by more than £ 9 billion a year.

Districts

By 1972 Northern Ireland was divided into six counties:

From 1973 there was a single-tier administration with 26 districts .

As of April 1, 2015, Northern Ireland has been divided into eleven districts:

Surname Administrative
status 		Area
(km²)
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough 572
Ards and North Down Borough 461
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon District 1,337
Belfast City 133
Causeway Coast and Glens District 1,980
Derry City and Strabane District 1,238
Fermanagh and Omagh District 2,857
Lisburn and Castlereagh District 505
Mid and East Antrim District 1,046
Mid Ulster District 1,827
Newry, Morne and Down District 1,633

Symbols

There is currently no official flag of Northern Ireland . The Red Hand Flag of Ulster was used as the official flag in Northern Ireland until 1973 . Only in sport is the flag of Northern Ireland used by both FIFA and UEFA at the Commonwealth Games for the Northern Ireland football team , for example at the 2016 European Football Championship . There was also a coat of arms .

See also

Coats of arms of the former counties

  • County Antrim

  • County Derry (Londonderry)

  • County Tyrone

  • County Fermanagh

  • County Armagh

  • County Down

Parties

The main political parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly and their current rough characterization:

Election results of the last five British general election for Northern Ireland:

Political party 2019 2017 2015 2010 2005
proportion of Mandates proportion of Mandates proportion of Mandates proportion of Mandates proportion of Mandates
Democratic Unionist Party 30.6% 08th 36.0% 10 25.7% 08th 25.0% 08th 33.7% 09
Sinn Fein 22.8% 07th 29.4% 07th 24.5% 04th 25.5% 05 24.3% 05
Social Democratic and Labor Party 14.9% 02 11.7% 00 13.9% 03 16.5% 03 17.5% 03
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 16.8% 01 07.9% 00 08.6% 00 06.3% 01 03.9% 00
Ulster Unionist Party 11.7% 00 10.3% 00 16.0% 02 15.2% 00 17.8% 01
Independent 00.2% 00 02.0% 01 03.6% 01 07.1% 01 01.9% 00

Election results of the last five elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly:

Political party 2017 2016 2011 2007 2003
proportion of Mandates proportion of Mandates proportion of Mandates proportion of Mandates proportion of Mandates
Democratic Unionist Party 28.1% 28 29.2% 38 30.0% 38 30.1% 36 25.7% 30th
Sinn Fein 27.9% 27 24.0% 28 26.9% 29 26.2 & 28 23.5% 24
Social Democratic and Labor Party 11.9% 12th 12.0% 12th 14.2% 14th 15.2% 16 17.0% 18th
Ulster Unionist Party 12.9% 10 12.6% 16 13.2% 16 14.9% 18th 22.7% 27
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland 09.1% 08th 07.0% 08th 07.7% 08th 05.2% 07th 03.7% 06th
Green Party in Northern Ireland 02.3% 02 02.7 02 00.9% 01 01.7% 01 00.4% 00
Traditional Unionist Voice 02.6% 01 03.4% 01 02.5% 01 - - - -
People Before Profit 01.8% 01 02.0% 02 00.8% 00 00.1% 00 - -
Progressive Unionist Party 00.7% 00 00.9% 00 00.2% 00 00.6% 01 01.2% 01
United Kingdom Unionist Party - - - - - - - - 00.8% 01
Independent 01.8% 01 03.2% 01 00.5% 01 02.8% 01 02.9% 01

Result of the referendum on leaving the EU

The referendum on leaving the EU took place on June 23, 2016 . A majority in the United Kingdom voted in favor of leaving the EU, while Northern Ireland and Scotland received a majority in favor of remaining in the EU.

Following this result, then Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny called for a referendum on the reunification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland.

Constituency voices Result
leaving
Remain
 voter turnout
% number % number %
Belfast East 51.4 21,918 48.6 20,728 66.2
leaving
Belfast North 49.6 19,844 50.4 20,128 57.5
Remain
Belfast South 30.5 13,596 69.5 30,960 67.6
Remain
Belfast West 25.9 08.092 74.1 23,099 48.9
Remain
East Antrim 55.2 22,929 44.8 18,616 65.2
leaving
LondonderryEast Londonderry 48.0 19,455 52.0 21,098 59.9
Remain
Fermanagh & South Tyrone 41.4 19,958 58.6 28,200 67.9
Remain
Foyle 21.7 08,905 78.3 32,064 57.4
Remain
Lagan Valley 53.1 25,704 46.9 22,710 66.6
leaving
Mid Ulster 39.6 16,799 60.4 25,612 61.7
Remain
Newry & Armagh 37.1 18,659 62.9 31,693 63.7
Remain
North Antrim 62.2 30,938 37.8 18,782 64.9
leaving
North Down 47.6 21,046 52.4 23,131 67.7
Remain
South Antrim 50.6 22,055 49.4 21,498 63.4
leaving
South Down 32.8 15,625 67.2 32,076 62.4
Remain
Strangford 55.5 23,383 44.5 18,727 64.5
leaving
Upper spell 52.6 27,262 47.4 24,550 63.8
leaving
West Tyrone 33.2 13,274 66.8 26,765 61.8
Remain
Total Northern Ireland 44.2 349,442 55.8 440,437 62.9
Remain
Total Great Britain 51.9 17,410,742 48.1 16.141.241 72.2
leaving

police

The former Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) has been called the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) since 2001 . While it consisted almost exclusively of British Protestant civil servants until 1998, it was reduced by half in 1999 to around 7,000 civil servants and is supposed to employ half Catholic applicants for new hires in order to ensure social peace. In Belfast there is a contact point for complainants against the police, the so-called "Ombudsman".

religion

The Calvinist Reformed Presbyterian Church forms the largest Protestant community with around 19 percent. She is of Scottish origin (there: Church of Scotland ).

Church of Ireland (Anglican): Unlike England , there has been no state church since 1871 . About 250,000 people (14% of the population) make up the Anglican community of the Church of Ireland , whose Archbishop ( Robert Eames ) resides in Armagh and is also responsible for the approximately 70,000 members in the Republic of Ireland.

Catholics : About 41 percent of Northern Irish call themselves Roman Catholic . The seat of the Primate of All Ireland ( Seán Brady , Eamon Martin since 2014 ) is also in Armagh. Even the Catholic Primate and the Irish Catholic Bishops 'Conference (Irish Bishops' Conference) are all-Ireland institutions.

Population by church affiliation (Census 2011):

Over the course of the last few decades, there has been a continuous increase in the proportion of the Catholic population. It is estimated that if this trend continues, Catholics will constitute the majority of Northern Ireland around 2021.

After the EU enlargement in 2004 , many migrants from Eastern and Central European countries came to Northern Ireland (mainly Poland), the majority of whom were Catholic. In 2011 this group comprised 35,720 people (63% of them Catholics), who made up just under 2% of the population.

However, there is also a steady increase in the group of people with no religious affiliation.

Religion according to the new administrative structure
District 2011
Catholics Protestants and
other Christians		 Other
Antrim and Newtownabbey 26.71% 52.19% 21.10%
Ards and North Down 11.05% 62.88% 26.07%
Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon 39.48% 45.87% 14.65%
Belfast 42.44% 34.35% 23.21%
Causeway Coast and Glens 36.97% 48.44% 14.59%
Derry and Strabane 65.46% 22.48% 12.06%
Fermanagh and Omagh 59.67% 29.97% 10.36%
Lisburn and Castlereagh 21.17% 57.53% 21.30%
Mid and East Antrim 17.02% 63.56% 19.42%
Mid Ulster 59.24% 30.13% 10.63%
Newry, Morne and Down 65.99% 20.24% 13.77%
All of Northern Ireland 40.76% 41.56% 17.68%
Religion according to the old administrative structure
District 2001 2011
Catholics Protestants and
other Christians		 Other Catholics Protestants and
other Christians		 Other
Antrim 35.2% 47.2% 17.6% 37.5%   43.2%   19.2%  
Ards 10.4% 68.7% 20.9% 10.9%   65.4%   23.6%  
Armagh 45.4% 45.5% 09.1% 44.8%   43.0%   12.2%  
Ballymena 19.0% 67.8% 13.3% 20.4%   63.3%   16.3%  
Ballymoney 29.5% 59.1% 11.3% 29.6%   56.7%   13.6%  
Banbridge 28.6% 58.7% 12.7% 29.4%   55.3%   15.3%  
Belfast 42.1% 40.3% 17.5% 41.9%   34.1%   24.0%  
Carrickfergus 06.5% 70.4% 23.1% 07.6%   67.2%   25.2%  
Castlereagh 15.8% 64.9% 19.3% 19.5%   57.3%   23.2%  
Coleraine 24.1% 60.5% 15.4% 25.0%   56.8%   18.2%  
Cookstown 55.2% 38.0% 06.8% 55.1%   34.0%   11.0%  
Craigavon 41.7% 46.7% 11.6% 42.1%   42.1%   15.8%  
Derry 70.9% 20.8% 08.4% 67.4%   19.4%   13.1%  
Down 57.1% 29.2% 13.7% 57.5%   27.1%   15.4%  
Dungannon 57.3% 34.9% 07.7% 58.7%   29.8%   11.5%  
Fermanagh 55.5% 36.1% 08.4% 54.9%   34.3%   10.8%  
Larne 22.2% 61.9% 15.9% 21.8%   59.7%   18.5%  
Limavady 53.1% 36.1% 10.7% 56.0%   34.3%   09.7%  
Lisburn 30.1% 53.6% 16.4% 32.8%   47.9%   19.3%  
Magherafelt 61.5% 32.0% 06.5% 62.4%   28.3%   09.3%  
Moyle 56.6% 33.8% 09.6% 54.4%   32.3%   13.3%  
Newry and Morne 75.9% 16.4% 07.7% 72.1%   15.2%   12.7%  
Newtownabbey 17.1% 64.5% 18.4% 19.9%   57.8%   22.3%  
North Down 10.0% 64.5% 25.5% 11.2%   60.3%   28.5%  
Omagh 65.1% 26.3% 08.6% 65.4%   24.8%   09.8%  
Strabane 63.1% 30.9% 06.0% 60.1%   30.7%   09.2%  

economy

Northern Ireland - like the Republic of Ireland - was characterized by emigration .

Larger investments were hardly made due to the ethnic-denominational division and the political uncertainty; the gross domestic product (GDP) moved in 1991 to 81 percent of the average in the United Kingdom ; The unemployment was high.

Since 1997 more has been invested and the economy is growing faster. Since 1999 the country has seen an increase in tourism . Premier Power is an important company .

The currency in Northern Ireland is the pound sterling . Four commercial banks ( Bank of Ireland , First Trust Bank , Danske Bank , Ulster Bank ) are allowed to print their own Northern Irish banknotes.

When compared with the gross domestic product of the European Union , expressed in purchasing power standards , Northern Ireland achieved an index of 78 in 2015 (EU-28 = 100).

In 2017 the unemployment rate (according to Eurostat definition) was 4.6%.

traffic

Flights

Northern Ireland has three international airports , two at Belfast, Belfast International Airport and George Best Belfast City Airport , one at Derry .

automobile

The M1 Motorway connects Belfast with Dungannon , the M2 Motorway from Belfast to Antrim , and the M3 Motorway from Belfast to Ballymacarrett .

bus

Since the rail network is very thin, a fairly dense network of bus routes has developed.

railroad

Northern Ireland has a relatively thin rail network of 340 km. Translink only uses diesel- powered trains and connects Belfast to:

  • Derry (via Ballymena and Coleraine) to the north
  • Portrush (via Ballymena and Coleraine) to the north
  • Larne to the northeast
  • Dublin (via Portadown) to the south
  • Bangor to the east

tourism

Mussenden Temple in County Antrim

Northern Ireland is a safe country to travel to. Despite the independence of the Republic of Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom form an informal Common Travel Area , which is why there are no border controls when traveling between the Republic and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom are not parties to the Schengen Agreement and have not adopted the European Union's Schengen acquis ; they decide on a case-by-case basis whether and which regulations to adopt (e.g. for the Schengen Information System ). Should one of the two states join the Schengen area , the Common Travel Area would break up.

A natural monument worth seeing is the Giant's Causeway (German "dam of the giant"), with around 40,000 basalt columns by the sea, protected by the National Trust , about 20 km west of Ballycastle on the north coast of Antrim. Other areas and landscapes worth seeing are:

As in the Republic of Ireland, golf , fishing , hiking and boating are all possible vacation activities; there are boat tours that connect the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Cultural events are concentrated in Belfast and Derry. With 1.5 million visitors (2002), tourism contributes two percent to Northern Ireland's gross national income ; the vast majority of visitors are from the Republic of Ireland as well as other parts of the UK. Around 100,000 visitors come from the rest of the European Union and the USA .

Sports

→ Main article : Rugby Union in Ireland
The Irish national rugby team after winning the 2009 Six Nations
Ireland (in light green) versus Essex in the Friends Provident Trophy 2007

Sport is mostly organized on a pan-Irish basis and in most sports a common team represents the entire island. The most important exception to this is football , in which both parts of the country compete with their own national team. For the Olympic Games , Northern Irish athletes compete for the team of Great Britain , along with England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland takes part in the Commonwealth Games with its own team and has been represented at every event since 1930.

Football is the only one of the popular sports where Northern Ireland has its own national team and does not share a team with the southern part of the island. The Northern Irish national soccer team has so far qualified for three soccer world championships ( 1958 , 1982 and 1986 ) and they reached the quarter-finals twice (1958 and 1982). At the European Football Championship 2016 , Northern Ireland's first participation in a European Football Championship , it reached the round of 16, but was defeated there against its British neighbor Wales . Interestingly, the Irish national football team also qualified for this tournament and were eliminated in the round of 16.

Rugby union is also a popular sport and is organized by the Irish Rugby Football Union . Northern Ireland's Ulster Rugby is one of Ireland's four professional teams and participates in Pro14 , the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup ; the other three Irish teams are Connacht Rugby , Leinster Rugby and Munster Rugby . Ulster Rugby won the Heineken Cup in 1998/99 and the Celtic League in 2005/06 . The Irish national rugby union team participates in the annual Six Nations , along with England , France , Italy , Scotland and Wales , as well as in the four - yearly rugby union world championships . Ireland hosted the 1991 and 1999 World Cups . The greatest honor for Irish players is to go on tour with the British and Irish Lions in the southern hemisphere every few years to compete against the All Blacks from New Zealand , the Springboks from South Africa or the Wallabies from Australia .

Cricket , also perceived as "English", was once a marginal sport in Northern Ireland, but the success of the Irish national team at the past Cricket World Cups in 2007 , 2011 and 2015 made this sport increasingly popular in Northern Ireland. The victory over England in the 2011 tournament is particularly noteworthy. On June 22, 2017, Ireland was granted test status together with Afghanistan , which entitles them to participate in the most prestigious level of cricket. As in rugby and hockey, the Irish national cricket team is an all-Irish team and represents both parts of the country equally.

literature

  • Líam Kennedy, Philip Ollerenshaw (Eds.): An Economic History of Ulster 1820-1939 . Manchester University Press, Manchester. ISBN 0-7190-1827-7 .
  • Ulrike Katrin Peters, Karsten-Thilo Raab: Northern Ireland travel guide . Westflügel Verlag 2006, ISBN 978-3-939408-02-4 .
  • Friedhelm Rathjen: Singing bicycle tires in Ulster. An Irish border experience. Edition ReJoyce, Scheeßel 2004, ISBN 3-00-013551-0 .
  • Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling (Ed.): Northern Ireland. History, landscape, culture, tours. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 1996, ISBN 3-89533-177-5 .
  • Julia Sebastian: What people hang their hearts on: Leading figures as building blocks of conflicting identities in the Northern Irish peace process . Lembeck, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-87476-581-7 (dissertation University of Münster (Westphalia), 2007, 400 pages).

Web links

Wiktionary: Northern Ireland  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Northern Ireland  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Northern Ireland  Travel Guide

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mid 2018 Estimates of the population for the UK, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
  2. ↑ eurostat newsrelease 90/2015 .
  3. ↑ Martin Alioth : Northern Irish have recently been haggling over money. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , December 11, 2014.
  4. ^ Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Brand Identity Guidelines
  5. ^ Northern Ireland at UEFA
  6. ^ Northern Ireland at FIFA
  7. ↑ Results. In: bbc.com. June 24, 2016, accessed June 24, 2016 .
  8. ^ Diepresse.com - "Brexit: Vote on Irish Reunion?
  9. ↑ 2011 Census Religion details  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed August 12, 2013@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ninis2.nisra.gov.uk  
  10. ^ Future Catholic majority in the North changes everything in Ireland. .irishcentral.com, December 13, 2012, accessed March 9, 2015 .
  11. ↑ COUNTRY OF BIRTH BY RELIGION BY AGE. (xls) Northern Ireland Neighborhood Information Service, accessed March 9, 2015 .
  12. ^ Northern Ireland Neighborhood Information Service. Retrieved October 31, 2016 .
  13. ^ Northern Ireland Neighborhood Information Service. Retrieved July 22, 2014 .
  14. ^ Northern Ireland Neighborhood Information Service. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on July 22, 2014 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ninis2.nisra.gov.uk
  15. ↑ Eurostat. Retrieved April 15, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Unemployment rate, by NUTS 2 regions. Retrieved November 5, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Stefanie Bisping: Gardeners don't have time for life crises. faz.net, October 7, 2016, accessed October 8, 2016.
  18. ↑ How do other sports in the island cope with the situation? The Herald, April 3, 2008; archived from the original on March 8, 2019 ; accessed on May 6, 2018 .
  19. ^ British & Irish Lions. British and Irish Lions , accessed September 28, 2020 .
  20. ↑ World Cup shock as Ireland beat England after record fastest ton. The Age, March 2, 2011, accessed February 10, 2021 .
  21. ↑ Ireland and Afghanistan ICC newest full members amid wide-ranging governance reform. International Cricket Council, June 22, 2017, accessed February 10, 2021 .

Coordinates: 54 ° 35 ′  N , 6 ° 56 ′  W