For the first time, less than half of the population in England and Wales identify as Christian, according to data released this Tuesday by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (GEN). In a 2021 census, data showed a rapidly growing Muslim population, but the second most common response after Christian religion was “no religion,” GEN said.
In an increasingly secular era, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said it was “no great surprise” that the Christian share declined over time.
But Cottrell said that despite a cost-of-living crisis and war in Europe, people still need spiritual food.
“We will be there for them, in many cases with food and warmth. And millions of people will continue to come to our services at Christmas”said the archbishop.
“At the same time, we will look beyond our immediate surroundings, bearing in mind that we are part of a global faith, the largest movement on Earth and its greatest hope for a peaceful and sustainable future.”
The religious question was added to the UK census in 2001. Responses remain voluntary, but according to GEN, 94.0 percent of respondents responded completely.
About 27.5 million people, or 46.2 per cent in England and Wales, described themselves as Christian, a decrease of 13.1 percentage points from 2011.
“No religion” rose 12 points to 37.2 percent, or 22.2 million, while Muslims represented 3.9 million, or 6.5 percent of the population, up from 4.9 percent previously.
The next most common responses were Hindus (1.0 million) and Sikhs (524,000), while Buddhists outnumbered Jews (273,000 to 271,000).
GEN released key sections of last year’s census piecemeal, with more recent sections on religion and ethnic identity.
Data for Scotland and Northern Ireland are released separately.
The number of people in England and Wales who identify their ethnic group as white has fallen by around 500,000 since 2011, from 86.0 to 81.7 per cent.
The percentage of people who identified as white and from the British Isles was 74.4 percent, six points less than in 2011.
The ‘other whites’ category has grown in a decade in which Britain has seen continued immigration from Eastern Europe, both before and after the 2016 Brexit referendum.
But GEN noted that respondents also had more options to choose from than in 2011, encouraging them to list other identities.
The second most common ethnic group after white was “Asian, British-Asian or Asian-Welsh” at 9.3 percent, up from 7.5 percent a decade ago.
Within this group, most respondents identified their family ancestry as Indian, followed by Pakistani, “other Asians”, Bangladeshi and Chinese.
The closest ethnic group was the rapidly growing African population, followed by the Caribbean.
African evangelical churches proliferated in London and elsewhere, providing some support to the Christian side.
Source: DN
