Belfast Northern Ireland

Description: Belfast is the principal city and port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel. It is second to Dublin as the largest city on the island of Ireland with a population in 2021 of 345,418 and a metro area population of 671,559.

Population: 345,418

Demographics: With respondents free to indicate more than one national identity, in 2021 the largest national identity group was “Irish only” with 35% of the population, followed by “British only” 27%, “Northern Irish only” 17%, “British and “Northern Irish only” 7%, “Irish and Northern Irish only” 2%, “British, Irish and Northern Irish only” 2%, British and Irish less than 1% and Other identities with 10%. From the mid to late 19th century, there was a community of central European Jews and of Italians in Belfast. Today, the largest immigrant groups are Poles, Chinese and Indians. The 2011 census figures recorded a total non-white population of 10,219 or 3.3%, while 18,420 or 6.6% of the population were born outside the UK and Ireland. Almost half of those born outside the British Isles lived in south Belfast, where they comprised 9.5% of the population. The majority of the estimated 5,000 Muslims and 200 Hindu families living in Northern Ireland resided in the Greater Belfast area. In the 2021 census the percentage of the city’s residents born outside the United Kingdom had risen to 9.8.

History: The site of Belfast has been occupied since the Bronze Age. The Giant’s Ring, a 5,000-year-old henge, is located near the city, and the remains of Iron Age hill forts can still be seen in the surrounding hills. At the beginning of the 14th century, Papal tax rolls record two churches: at Kock in the east, the “Chapel of Dundela”, connected by some accounts to the 7th-century evangelist St. Colmcille, and, the “Chapel of the Ford”, which may have been a successor to a much older parish church on the present Shankill (Seanchill, “Old Church”) Road, dating back to the 9th, and possibly to St. Patrick in the mid 5th century. While other Irish towns experienced a loss of manufacturing, and after a cotton boom and bust, from the 1820s Belfast underwent rapid industrial expansion. As the global leader in the production of linen goods—mill, and finishing, work largely employing women and children— it won the moniker “Linenopolis”.Shipbuilding led the development of heavier industry. By the 1900s, her shipyards were building up to a quarter of the total United Kingdom tonnage. This included from the yard of Harland & Wolff the ill-fated RMS Titanic, at the time of her launch in 1911 the largest ship afloat. Other major export industries included textile machinery, rope, tobacco and mineral waters. Since the turn of the century, the accelerated loss of employment and population in the city centre has been reversed. This reflects the growth of the service economy, for which a new district has been developed on former dockland, the Titanic Quarter. The growing tourism sector paradoxically lists as attractions the murals and peace walls that echo the violence of the past. In recent years, “Troubles tourism” has presented visitors with new territorial markers: flags, murals and graffiti in which loyalists and republicans take opposing sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Elevation: 3 m

Climate:  Temperate oceanic climate.  Average annual temperature in Belfast is 10 C (50 F), the average for July is 15 C (59 F), the average for January is 4 C (39 F).

Attractions: Titanic Belfast, Botanic Gardens, Grand Opera House, Cathedral Quarter, SS Nomadic

Airports: Belfast International Airport BFS, Belfast City Airport BHD

Distance To City Centre: 24 km

Commute Length: 25 min

Average Transportation Cost: 45 GBP

Traffic Hours: 7:30 am – 9 am, 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm