Fewer than half of people in England and Wales identify themselves as Christians, according to census data released Tuesday, which revealed a rise of both Islam and atheism.
The 2021 census data shows a historic shift in Britain. The proportion of people who declare themselves Christians is 46.2%, compared to 59.3% in the last census in 2011. In contrast, the number of people identifying as atheists increased from about a quarter of the population in 2011 to over 37% today. Citizens of England and Wales who identify as Muslim also increased, from 4.9% in 2011 to 6.5% last year.
The data arrives just a month after Rishi Sunak became the UK's first Hindu prime minister and reflects rapid growth of non-Christian populations. The number of Muslims in England and Wales is approaching four million people. The Hindu population also increased in the past 10 years, from 1.5% to 1.7%, and now accounts for over one million inhabitants. Further down the list were Sikhs (524,000), while Buddhists outnumbered Jews (273,000 and 271,000, respectively).
Britain, less Muslim and less white
The Census shows that the number of people in England and Wales who identify as 'white' has fallen by half a million since 2011, from 86.0% to 81.7%.
The second most common ethnic group is 'Asian' at 9.3%, up from 7.5% a decade ago. Within that group, the majority of respondents identify their ethnicity as Indian, followed by Pakistanis, 'other Asians,' Bangladeshis and Chinese. The next largest ethnic group was the African population.
The spokesman for the new British Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction with the new census data: "Obviously the UK is a diverse country and that is to be welcomed, and that includes diversity of religion as well."The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, noted that these data do not come as a "great surprise" but do challenge Christians to promote their faith more vigorously.
Those who were perhaps most pleased with this data were the organizations that promote secularism in a country where state and faith are inextricably linked. Anglican bishops are members of the upper house of Parliament and the monarch is the "defender of the faith" and supreme governor of the church. Andrew Copson, leader of the NGO Humanists UK, stated that "One of the most striking things about these Census results is how at odds the population is from the state itself."
