More than two-thirds of young Catholics and Protestants in the North have never had a "meaningful conversation" with anyone from the other community, according to an academic study released today.
Segregation in the worst flashpoints has actually increased during the last ten years, the University of Ulster research paper said.
Sixty-eight per cent of those aged 18 to 25 had "never had a meaningful conversation with anyone from the other community," according to the results.
"A survey of 4,800 people who live within those areas separated by peacelines has indicated that segregation between communties is increasing within a period of tentative peace," it said.
A study of 40,000 jobs in Belfast highlighted that workplaces remained highly influenced by denomination: "Seventy-two percent refuse to use health centres that are located in communities dominated by the other religion."
Sixty-two percent of unemployed refused to sign on in their local social security office because it was located in an area dominated by the other religion.
The same number of respondents had been victims of verbal abuse by the other community since 1994, the date of the first IRA and loyalist ceasefires.
The research results were submitted to the British Royal Geographical Society's annual conference, which is underway in Belfast.
AFP