Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland
In orange is Northern Ireland And a lighter peach orange colour is the United Kingdom and the white is the rest of the European continent.
Status	Country (constituent unit)
Capital and largest city	Belfast 54°36′N 5°55′W / 54.600°N 5.917°W / 54.600; -5.917
Languages[b]	English
Regional languages	Irish Ulster-Scots
Ethnic groups (2011)	98.21% White 1.06% Asian 0.20% Black 0.53% other[1]
Sovereign state Legal jurisdiction	United Kingdom Northern Ireland
Government	Consociational devolved legislature within unitary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	Charles III
• First Minister	Michelle O'Neill
• Deputy First Minister	Emma Little-Pengelly
Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Secretary of State	Hilary Benn
• House of Commons	18 MPs (of 650)
Legislature	Northern Ireland Assembly
Devolution
• Government of Ireland Act	3 May 1921
• Constitution Act	18 July 1973
• Northern Ireland Act	17 July 1974
• Northern Ireland Act	19 November 1998
Area
• Total	14,130 km2 (5,460 sq mi)[2]
Population
• 2019 estimate	1,893,700[3]
• 2011 census	1,810,863[4]
• Density	133/km2 (344.5/sq mi)
GVA	2018 estimate
• Total	£49 billion[5]
• Per capita	£26,000
HDI (2018)	0.887[6] very high
Currency	Pound sterling (GBP; £)
Time zone	UTC (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+44[c]
ISO 3166 code	GB-NIR
The official flag of Northern Ireland is the Union Jack de jure.[7] The Ulster Banner was used by the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1953 until the latter was abolished in 1973. The Ulster Banner is still used by some organisations and entities and has been adopted as an unofficial flag of the region by unionists but its use is controversial. See Northern Ireland flags issue for more. ^ Northern Ireland has no official language. English serves as the de facto language of government and diplomacy and is the de jure language of legal proceedings. Irish and Ulster Scots are officially recognised by Her Majesty's Government as minority languages. ^ +44 is always followed by 28 when calling landlines. The code is 028 within the UK and 048 from the Republic of Ireland where it is treated as a domestic call.

Northern Ireland (Irish: Tuaisceart Éireann, Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom. It is on the island of Ireland.

The whole island of Ireland used to be a kingdom, called the Kingdom of Ireland. After the Act of Union in the year 1800 (following the failed Irish rebellion of 1798), it became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This stayed until 1922, after the War of Independence. At that time, Ireland was divided into the Republic of Ireland, the sovereign state that takes up most of the island, and Northern Ireland, which stayed as part of the United Kingdom.

About 1.8 million people live in Northern Ireland. Its capital and largest city is Belfast. In 1972, the historic administrative roles of its 6 counties were replaced by 26 unitary authorities Counties of Northern Ireland.

Sometimes people use other names for Northern Ireland. Some call it Ulster, however that is an incorrect name because some parts of Ulster are actually in the Republic of Ireland. Others call it "the North" or "the Six Counties", because they do not want to recognise that a part of Ireland is not fully independent. Northern Ireland is the smallest part of the United Kingdom at 5,345 square miles (13,840 square kilometres).

The only official flag in Northern Ireland is the Union Flag of the United Kingdom. The Ulster Banner, however, is still used as the flag of Northern Ireland by loyalists and unionists, and to represent Northern Ireland internationally in some sporting competitions.

1. ↑ "Northern Ireland Census 2011 Output" (PDF). Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. 11 December 2012. p. 15. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
2. ↑ "The Countries of the UK". Office for National Statistics. Office for National Statistics (United Kingdom). Retrieved 7 July 2015.
3. ↑ "Population estimates – Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
4. ↑ Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (December 2012). "Census 2011 Key Statistics for Northern Ireland" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
5. ↑ https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/regionaleconomicactivitybygrossdomesticproductuk/1998to2018/pdf
6. ↑ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
7. ↑ "The Flags Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000". Government of the United Kingdom. 8 November 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2019.