England and Wales are no longer legal age Christian land , data from the 2021 census has found . For the first time since interrogative on religion werefirst posed to the nations in 2001 , the number of people describing themselves as Christian fall below 50 percent .
The census , which is required for anyone living in England and Wales , asks respondents a issue of demographic question every 10 eld to build up"snapshots " of society , and how it has commute over the old age . The questions have changed over prison term , and since 2001 it has posed a voluntary question about the respondent ’s religion .
Of the 52.1 million respondents , 46.2 percent ( 27.5 million people)chose to describe themselves as " Christian " , a bead of 13.1 per centum point compared to the answer from the 2011 nosecount . " No religion " was the 2nd most democratic response , increasing by 12 percentage points to 37.2 percent ( 22.2 million respondents ) over the response in 2011 .
The phone number of people describing themselves as " Muslim " went up by 1.6 percentage points to 6.5 pct ( 3.9 million ) , while hoi polloi key out themselves as " Hindu " also increase , to 1.7 percent . Christianity remain the most democratic religious belief , though it has declined as people describing themselves as having no religion have increase .
" This go on the trend between 2001 and 2011 , when the number of citizenry report " No religion " had arise from 14.8 percent ( 7.7 million people ) , " the Office for National Statistics ( ONS)saidin a spill of the census findings .
Wales saw a greater decrease in people line themselves as Christian and a just about comparable increase in people describing themselves as not ingest a faith ( 14 percent full stop decrement vs 14.5 percentage distributor point addition , compare to 2011 ) . In England , the highest percentages of people calling themselves Christian were in the North West of the country , while the most irreverent region ( or to put it less dramatically , where masses draw themselves as having no faith ) were in Wales , being Caerphilly ( 56.7 per centum ) , Blaenau Gwent ( 56.4 percent ) , and Rhondda Cynon Taf ( 56.2 percent ) .
" There are many factors that may be contributing to the changing spiritual musical composition of England and Wales , such as differ patterns of ageing , fertility , mortality , and migration , " the ONS excuse in their paper . " Changes may also be make by differences in the way individuals chose to suffice the faith question between censuses . "
The ONS say it will issue more detailed data and analysis on religious belief in the coming months .
