less christian
Tuesday’s census data showed a particularly sharp drop in the share of people who identify themselves as Christian in England and Wales, falling from 59.3% in 2011 to 46.2% in 2021.
This decline was reflected by a large increase in people who said they had no religion, from 25.2% to 37.2%.
Islam was the second most common religion followed by 6.5% of the population and up from 4.9% in 2011, while Hinduism was the third most common at 1.7%. Sikhs made up 0.9% and Jews made up 0.5% of the population.
The Church of England still plays a major role in ceremonial events of state, and its bishops are guaranteed seats in the upper house of the UK Parliament.
The census also allowed people to provide more detail on their ethnicity.
Those who said they were white also said they were “English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British” decreased from 80.5% in 2011 to 74.4%, while “White: other” decreased from 4.4%. increased to 6.2%. ,
The absolute number of white people in England and Wales rose from 48.2 million to 48.7 million, although the number who said they were white and of British or other United Kingdom ethnicity fell from 45.1 million to 44.4 million.
For people of Asian ethnicity, the proportion reporting Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage increased, while the proportion with a Chinese background remained stable.
Fewer black people described themselves as having Caribbean heritage, while the main African backgrounds given were Nigerian, Somali and Ghanaian.
London remains the most ethnically mixed part of England and Wales. Only 36.8% of Londoners describe themselves as “white: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”, down from 44.9% in 2011.