Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. At the time of the 2001 UK Census its population was 1 685 000 constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the population of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland consists of six of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster.
