Northern Ireland's population shift.

• Position: GRAPH > INTERNATIONAL - Brief article

The recent agreement to share power between Northern Ireland's Catholics and Protestants is a historic event, a breakthrough that would have been unimaginable 20 years ago.

Catholics are overwhelmingly in favor of Northern Ireland becoming part of the Irish Republic, white Protestants overwhelmingly want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom.

As the graph to the right shows, the Protestant and Catholic shares of the population changed significantly between 1961 and 2001.

1. What was the difference in the number of percentage points separating Catholic and Protestant populations in Northern Ireland in 1971?

   (a) 16

   (b) 20

   (d) 26

   (c) 23

2. What was the difference in the number of percentage points separating Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland in 1991?

   (a) 11

   (b) 16

   (c) 22

   (d) 26

3. In 1981, the Northern Ireland Census reported a total, population of 1.5 million in the province. About how many citizens of Northern Ireland were Catholic in that year?

   (a) 460,000

   (b) 500,000

   (c) 585,000

   (d) 610,000

4. By what percent did the Protestant share of Northern Ireland's population decrease between 1961 and 2001?

   (a) 14%

   (b) 11%

   (c) 22%

   (d) 7%

5. By how many percentage points did the Catholic share of the population rise between 1961 and 2001?

   (a) 9

   (b) 12

   (c) 14

   (d) 16

6. In 2001, Northern Ireland's population was 1,700,000. About how many citizens of Northern Ireland were Protestant in that year?

   (a) 890,000

   (b) 900,000

   (c) 952,000

   (d) 980,000

7. Discussion: Explain why you think the chance for...