There are now only three per cent more Protestants than Catholics in Northern Ireland, according to the latest census results.

According to the results, 45pc of the population were either Catholic or brought up as Catholic, while 48pc belonged to or were brought up in Protestant, other Christian or Christian-related denominations, The Irish Times reports.

It marks significant shift since the last Census taken in Northern Ireland in 2001, when the gap between the two faiths was almost 10pc.

In 2001, 43.76pc identified as Catholic, while 53.13pc identified as Protestant.

The latest figures show that a further 0.9 per cent belonged to or had been brought up in Other Religions and Philosophies, while 5.6 per cent neither belonged to, nor had been brought up in, a religion.

One in six people said they were of no religion or did not state a religion on the census form.

The overall population of Northern Ireland increased by 7.5 per cent (125,600) to 1.811 million between 2001 and 2011, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, which has this morning released further results from the 2011 Census, held on March 27th, 2011.

The population of children aged under 16 years fell from 24 per cent in 2001 to 21 per cent in 2011, while the proportion of people aged 65 years and over rose from 13 per cent to 15 per cent over the same period.

The number of lone parent households with dependent children (where the lone parent was aged 16 to 74 years) increased by 27 per cent, from 50,500 in 2001 to 63,900 in 2011.

Meanwhile, the UK Census also showed a drop of nearly four million in the number of people calling themselves Christians, the Daily Telegraph.

The number of Christians has fallen from 37m to 33m.

Meanwhile, the number of Muslims has nearly doubled, from 1.5 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2011.

More than 14m people, equivalent to one in four of the population, said they did not have any religion at all. It is an increase of six million on 2001.

The highest proportion of non-believers are in Norwich and Brighton, where over 40pc of people do not have a faith.

There has also been a significant decline in the number of people who are married. The number of households without a married couple has fallen below 50pc for the first time, although there are now more than 52,000 couples in civil partnerships.