The latest UK census results reveal that Britain is becoming less religious and less white. Read to know more.
What does the UK census reveal?
As per the UK census, fewer than 50 percent of people in England and Wales are considering themselves Christian. For the first time, only a minority of the people are following the nation’s official religion. The figures from the census are a decade after the last one and show Britain becoming less white and less religious. Northern Ireland and Scotland report its census separately. About 82 percent identified as white, down from 86 percent from the 2011 census.
The data was released on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics. About 46 percent of the population identify as Christians in the 2021 census. The numbers are down from 59.3 percent in the previous census. Additionally, the population of Muslims in the nation grew from 4.9 percent to 6.5 percent and, Hindus from 1.5 percent to 1.7 percent. Moreover, 37 percent of the population stated they had no religion. The percentage of nonreligious people is up from 25 percent in 2011.
More on the changing British population
Secularism campaigners believe the change in UK census results must trigger a move to rethink the way religion is entrenched in society. As per Andrew Copson, the “dramatic growth of the non-religious” is making the UK “almost certainly one of the least religious countries on Earth”. Copson is the chief executive of the charity Humanist. “One of the most striking things about these results is how at odds the population is with the state itself. No state in Europe has such a religious set-up as we do in terms of law and public policy, while at the same time having such a non-religious population,” stated Copson.
Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York and one of the senior clerics stated the UK census results were not a “great surprise”. “We have left behind the era when many people almost automatically identified as Christian, but other surveys consistently show how the same people still seek spiritual truth and wisdom and a set of values to live by,” stated Cottrell.