The proportion of Protestants in Northern Ireland has fallen below 50% for the first time, new census figures show.
The findings follow scenes of violence in Belfast over a ruling to remove the Union Flag from permanent display at city hall.
The Protestant share of the population has fallen from 53% 10 years ago while the proportion of Catholics increased to 45% from 44%.
Demographers predict Catholics, who are younger and have higher birth rates, could become a majority of voters within a generation.
The loss of control of Belfast City Council by Unionist parties last year allowed nationalist parties this month to secure a motion to restrict the flying of the British flag at the city hall for the first time in a century.
The vote has triggered the most widespread loyalist street violence for years, with at least 32 police officers injured and 38 arrests made in eight days.
On Monday, a petrol bomb was thrown into a car as a policewoman sat inside, with the attack being treated as attempted murder by police.
Prime Minister David Cameron is under increasing pressure over his failure to meet Northern Ireland's justice minister following more than a week of violence on the streets.
David Ford, an Alliance Party MLA, said the Prime Minister had yet to return his phone calls from Monday.
In the Commons yesterday Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said: "I have been keeping the Prime Minister fully informed on this. He is following events very closely."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article