<Tr> <Th> 2011 </Th> <Td> 286,000 </Td> <Td> + 1.36% </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> 2014 </Th> <Td> 333,000 </Td> <Td> + 5.20% </Td> </Tr> <P> Belfast (/ ˈbɛlfɑːst / or / - fæst /; from Irish: Béal Feirste, meaning "rivermouth of the sandbanks") is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, and the second largest on the island of Ireland . On the River Lagan, it had a population of 333,871 in 2015 . Belfast was granted city status in 1888 . </P> <P> Belfast was a centre of the Irish linen, tobacco - processing, rope - making and shipbuilding industries: in the early 20th century, Harland and Wolff, which built the RMS Titanic, was the world's biggest and most productive shipyard . Belfast played a key role in the Industrial Revolution, and was a global industrial centre until the latter half of the 20th century . It has sustained a major aerospace and missiles industry since the mid 1930s . Industrialisation and the inward migration it brought made Belfast Ireland's biggest city at the beginning of the 20th century . </P>

What is the capital and major population center of northern ireland