Christians now account for less than half of England and Wales’ population for the first time in census history, government figures reveal.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) results show that 46.2 per cent of the population (27.5 million people) described themselves as ‘Christian’ in 2021. This marks a 13.1 percentage point decrease from 59.3 per cent (33.3 million people) in 2011
But the religion is still the largest in England and Wales, followed by Muslims on 6.5 per cent, Hindus on 1.7 per cent, Sikhs on 0.9 per cent and Buddhists and Jews on 0.5 per cent
Meanwhile, 37 per cent of people who filled out the most recent census identified as having no religion at all.
The census data also shows that every major religion increased over the ten-year period, except for Christianity.
Despite this decrease, ‘Christian’ remained the most common response to the question about religion. ‘No religion‘ was the second most common response, increasing to 37.2 per cent (22.2 million) from 25.2 per cent (14.1 million) across the ten-year period.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said it was no “great surprise” that the Christian proportion was declining over time.
But he said that, facing a cost-of-living crisis and war in Europe, people still needed spiritual sustenance.
But the group Humanists UK, which campaigns for the rights of non-religious people, said the government should take on board policy implications
Those included government backing for religious schools and for the established church of England, its chief executive Andrew Copson said.
