Just less than half of people want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom while a third support Irish unity, a new survey suggests.
The latest Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey found 48% want the region in the long-term to stay in the UK - broadly the same as the previous year's poll.
Support for a united Ireland rose to 31% in the 2022 survey. The figure was 14% in 2015 before the Brexit referendum but there has been a "significant and steady rise" since then, the study said.
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Some 21% were unsure, did not answer or suggested Northern Ireland should be an independent state.
If there was a referendum tomorrow on Irish unity, 47% said they would vote for Northern Ireland to remain in the UK - down six points from 2020 - while 35% said they would vote for a united Ireland.
More people think it is likely a united Ireland will exist in 20 years (45%) than believe the United Kingdom will exist (38%).
In the survey in 2020, more people thought it likely that the UK will exist (41%) in two decades' time than a united Ireland (34%) while in 2021 the proportions were equal (38%).
A majority in the latest poll (63%) believe the UK leaving the European Union has made a united Ireland more likely, including most unionists.
Some 38% said Brexit has made Irish unity more desirable, but most people (42%) said it has made no difference to their views.
The relative size of the groups identifying as unionist (31%), nationalist (26%) or "neither" (38%) has become closer over the years, the study said.
It said the "trend of an intensification of nationalist and unionist identities since 2016 has continued".
There continued to be broad support for the Good Friday Agreement, with 69% saying the 1998 peace deal remains the best basis for governing Northern Ireland. However, 55% said it needs at least some reform to work effectively.
The survey also found that trust in political actors is "generally low and there are high levels of distrust".
The Stormont Executive was the least trusted (17%), followed by the UK Government (21%) and the Irish government (28%), while the most trusted were the Northern Ireland Civil Service (41%) and the EU (37%).
The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, which has been running since 1998, is carried out annually in collaboration with Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University.
A total of 1,405 people aged 18 or over took part in the latest survey, which aims to document public opinion on a wide range of political and social issues.
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