Table showing percentage of resident population (all ages) broken down into six faiths, plus no religion and any other religion.

The data covers: Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, any other religion and no religion at all.

Percentages and confidence intervals are shown.

Or alternatively, faith data from the 2011 Census is able to show numbers for each of the main religions.

Islam is the major religion in many African countries, especially in the north of the continent. In Comoros, Libya, Western Sahara, at least 99 percent of the population was Muslim as of 202. These were the highest percentages on the continent. However, also in many other African nations, the majority of the population was Muslim. In Egypt, for instance, Islam was the religion of 79 percent of the people. Islam and other religions in Africa Africa accounts for an important share of the world’s Muslim population. As of 2019, 16 percent of the Muslims worldwide lived in Sub-Saharan Africa, while 20 percent of them lived in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Together with Christianity, Islam is the most common religious affiliation in Africa, followed by several traditional African religions. Although to a smaller extent, numerous other religions are practiced on the continent: these include Judaism, the Baha’i Faith, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Number of Muslims worldwide Islam is one of the most widespread religions in the world. There are approximately 1.9 billion Muslims globally, with the largest Muslim communities living in the Asia-Pacific region. Specifically, Indonesia hosts the highest number of Muslims worldwide, amounting to over 200 million, followed by India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Islam is also present in Europe and America. The largest Islamic communities in Europe are in France (5.72 million), Germany (4.95 million), and the United Kingdom (4.13 million). In the United States, there is an estimated number of around 3.45 million Muslims.

Census 2021 data on religion by highest qualification level, by sex, by age, England and Wales combined. This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in England and Wales by ethnic group. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

The religion people connect or identify with (their religious affiliation), whether or not they practise or have belief in it.
This question was voluntary and the variable includes people who answered the question, including “No religion”, alongside those who chose not to answer this question.

Total counts for some population groups may not match between published tables. This is to protect the confidentiality of individuals' data. Population counts have been rounded to the nearest 5 and any counts below 10 are suppressed, this is signified by a 'c' in the data tables.

This dataset shows population counts for usual residents aged 16 years and over. Some people aged 16 years old will not have completed key stage 4 yet on census day, and so did not have the opportunity to record any qualifications on the census.

These estimates are not comparable to Department of Education figures on highest level of attainment because they include qualifications obtained outside England and Wales.

Quality notes can be found here

Quality information about Education can be found here

Religion

The 8 ‘tickbox’ religious groups are as follows:

• Buddhist
• Christian
• Hindu
• Jewish
• Muslim
• No religion
• Sikh
• Other religion

No qualifications

No qualifications

Level 1

Level 1 and entry level qualifications: 1 to 4 GCSEs grade A* to C , Any GCSEs at other grades, O levels or CSEs (any grades), 1 AS level, NVQ level 1, Foundation GNVQ, Basic or Essential Skills

Level 2

5 or more GCSEs (A* to C or 9 to 4), O levels (passes), CSEs (grade 1), School Certification, 1 A level, 2 to 3 AS levels, VCEs, Intermediate or Higher Diploma, Welsh Baccalaureate Intermediate Diploma, NVQ level 2, Intermediate GNVQ, City and Guilds Craft, BTEC First or General Diploma, RSA Diploma

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship

Level 3

2 or more A levels or VCEs, 4 or more AS levels, Higher School Certificate, Progression or Advanced Diploma, Welsh Baccalaureate Advance Diploma, NVQ level 3; Advanced GNVQ, City and Guilds Advanced Craft, ONC, OND, BTEC National, RSA Advanced Diploma

Level 4 +

Degree (BA, BSc), higher degree (MA, PhD, PGCE), NVQ level 4 to 5, HNC, HND, RSA Higher Diploma, BTEC Higher level, professional qualifications (for example, teaching, nursing, accountancy)

Other

Vocational or work-related qualifications, other qualifications achieved in England or Wales, qualifications achieved outside England or Wales (equivalent not stated or unknown)

As of 2018, the highest level educational attainment of approximately 34.5 percent of Muslims in England and Wales was a degree of equivalent. In the same year, 14.2 percent of Muslims in England and Wales were estimated to have no qualifications.

This research project aimed to describe and explain how children of primary school age and under are brought up to be Muslims. The project began with secondary quantitative analysis of the Home Office Citizenship Survey. The main part of the research was a qualitative case study of Muslims in Cardiff. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were used in 60 families with at least one child and usually two parents. In 24 of these families, children kept oral diaries and took photographs of places and events with religious significance. Observations were also carried out by researchers of formal education. The proposed research aims to describe and explain how children of primary school age and under are brought up to be Muslims. The topic of religious nurture is of interest in relation to all faiths, but given the diversity of schools of thought and ethnic groups amongst British Muslims, there is a strong argument for a detailed study of Islam in particular. Since there has already been attention paid by researchers to Muslim adolescents and 'young people' in recent years, the intention for this proposed project is to focus on families with children of primary school age and younger. The research questions are as follows: - How do different family members negotiate religious nurture in the context of a non-Muslim society? - How do children understand their religion? - How does religious nurture differ according to children's age, perceived stage and gender? - How does religious nurture differ between families according to religious traditions, ethnic backgrounds and social class? - How does religious nurture fit with parents' attempts to transmit ethnic and national identities to children? - How important is ritual to religious nurture? Are there particular places that have religious significance? - Is there evidence of increasing secular influences on Islamic beliefs and practices in Muslim families? - Is there evidence that ideas of spirituality and personal well-being are meaningful to Muslim families? The first task will be secondary quantitative analysis of existing government survey data (including the Home Office's Citizenship Survey). This analysis will both be of substantive interest in its own right and will also inform the sampling strategy for the main element of the research project, which is a qualitative case study of Muslims in Cardiff. This particular location has been chosen because its diverse Muslim population is fairly representative of the range of Muslim traditions and different ethnic groups in the UK. The qualitative research will consist of the following elements: - In 60 families there will be semi-structured interviews with at least one child and usually with two parents (although other family members would also be invited to take part) - In 30 of these families, children will be asked to keep oral diaries (via digital recorders) and to take photographs of places and events with religious significance - In 15 of these families there will also be some observation by the researchers of everyday religious practices. As well as being presented to academic audiences via a book, journals and conferences, there will be a public event to launch the research for a non-academic audience and a 'family day' for people who participated in the research, which will include child-friendly activities and entertainment. There will also be presentations at practice/policy conferences that are geared towards Muslim organisations and people working with children and families. The principal applicant has relevant experience in research on gender, family welfare and children's national and ethnic identities. The co-applicant has conducted research on various aspects of British Islam and is the Director of the Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK. Secondary quantitative analysis of the Home Office Citizenship Survey was carried out first. In the main phase, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 60 Muslim families in Cardiff with usually two parents and at least one child. In 24 of these families children kept oral diaries and took photographs of places and events with religious significance. Observations were also carried out.

Census 2021 data on religion by economic activity status, by sex, by age, and religion by occupation, by sex, by age, England and Wales combined. This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in England and Wales by ethnic group. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

The religion people connect or identify with (their religious affiliation), whether or not they practise or have belief in it.
This question was voluntary and the variable includes people who answered the question, including “No religion”, alongside those who chose not to answer this question.

Total counts for some population groups may not match between published tables. This is to protect the confidentiality of individuals' data. Population counts have been rounded to the nearest 5 and any counts below 10 are suppressed, this is signified by a 'c' in the data tables.

This dataset shows population counts for usual residents aged between 16 to 64 years old only. This is to focus on religious affiliation differences among the working age. Population counts in these tables may be different from other publications which use different age breakdowns.

Quality notes can be found here

Quality information about Labour Market can be found here

The Standard Occupation Classification 2020 code used can be found here

Religion

The 8 ‘tickbox’ religious groups are as follows:

• Buddhist
• Christian
• Hindu
• Jewish
• Muslim
• No religion
• Sikh
• Other religion

There were 3,866 hate crimes committed against Muslims in England and Wales, in the 2023/24 reporting year compared with 3,432 in the previous reporting year.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in England and Wales by religion. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. Data are also available in these geographic types:

• country - for example, Wales
• region - for example, London
• local authority - for example, Cornwall
• health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
• statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

Religion (10 categories)

The religion people connect or identify with (their religious affiliation), whether or not they practice or have belief in it.

This question was voluntary and includes people who identified with one of 8 tick-box response options, including ‘No religion’, alongside those who chose not to answer this question. itionally classified as upper tier local authorities.

The religion people connect or identify with (their religious affiliation), whether or not they practise or have belief in it. This question was voluntary and includes people who identified with one of eight tick-box response options, including "No religion", alongside those who chose not to answer this question.CoverageThis dataset is focused on the data for Birmingham at Ward level. Also available at LSOA, MSOA and Constituency levels.About the 2021 CensusThe Census takes place every 10 years and gives us a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales.Protecting personal dataThe ONS sometimes need to make changes to data if it is possible to identify individuals. This is known as statistical disclosure control. In Census 2021, they:

Swapped records (targeted record swapping), for example, if a household was likely to be identified in datasets because it has unusual characteristics, they swapped the record with a similar one from a nearby small area. Very unusual households could be swapped with one in a nearby local authority. Added small changes to some counts (cell key perturbation), for example, we might change a count of four to a three or a five. This might make small differences between tables depending on how the data are broken down when they applied perturbation.For more geographies, aggregations or topics see the link in the Reference below. Or, to create a custom dataset with multiple variables use the ONS Create a custom dataset tool.Population valueThe value column represents All usual residents.The percentage shown is the value as a percentage of All usual residents within the given geography.

Census 2021 data on religion by general health, by sex, by age; religion by disability, by sex, by age; and, religion by unpaid care, by sex, by age; England and Wales combined. This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents in England and Wales by ethnic group. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

The religion people connect or identify with (their religious affiliation), whether or not they practise or have belief in it.
This question was voluntary and the variable includes people who answered the question, including “No religion”, alongside those who chose not to answer this question.

Total counts for some population groups may not match between published tables. This is to protect the confidentiality of individuals' data. Population counts have been rounded to the nearest 5 and any counts below 10 are suppressed, this is signified by a 'c' in the data tables.

The population base for unpaid care is usual residents aged 5 years and above. We have used 5-year age bands for the majority of analysis; however, age groups "5 to 17" and "18 to 24" have been used to allow commentary on young carers and young working age carers.

Quality notes can be found here

Religion

The 8 ‘tickbox’ religious groups are as follows:

• Buddhist
• Christian
• Hindu
• Jewish
• Muslim
• No religion
• Sikh
• Other religion

General health

A person's assessment of the general state of their health from very good to very bad. This assessment is not based on a person's health over any specified period of time.

Disability

The definition of disability used in the 2021 Census is aligned with the definition of disability under the Equality Act (2010). A person is considered disabled if they self-report having a physical or mental health condition or illness that has lasted or is expected to last 12 months or more, and that this reduces their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

Unpaid care

An unpaid carer may look after, give help or support to anyone who has long-term physical or mental ill-health conditions, illness or problems related to old age. This does not include any activities as part of paid employment. This help can be within or outside of the carer's household.

This statistic shows the number of banks in London that supplied services (either partially or wholly) in Islamic finance between 2009 and 2016. There were at least 20 banks that provided services in Islamic finance, five of them fully compliant with Sharia law, as of 2016. Between 2009 and 2013 there were 22 banks providing Islamic finance in London, UK.

Vaccination rates and odds ratios by socio-demographic group among people living in England.

This statistic displays the number of mosques in the United Kingdom in 2017, by capacity. In this year there were 300 masjids in the United Kingdom with a capacity between 101 to 200 people. This was the most common size for a masjid in the United Kingdom. It was followed by 279 masjids with a capacity for between 201 and 300 people. In 2017 there were only ten masjids in the United Kingdom that had a capacity for over 4,000 people.

In this 2 phase study, 100 individual birth histories will be collected in order to situate infertility within the full range of fertility experiences among British Pakistanis. Secondly, in-depth interviews and life histories with 30-40 individuals who are seeking or who have recently used fertility treatment will enable detailed exploration of how people negotiate their quest for a child. Within this group careful attention will be paid to discourses of religion and science, understandings of the body, and meanings of marriage, kinship and family life. Interviews will also be conducted with community/religious leaders and health workers. In this study, ethnographic and interview-based research will be carried out into the impacts of infertility on the lives of British Pakistanis Moslems. Infertility carries particular stigma among this group; it can alter identities and affect family/social relationships. One of the main aims of the project is to understand the changing meanings of infertility in the context of changing patterns of family and kinship more generally in the UK. A key element of the study is its focus on the new reproductive technologies and the consequences that their increasing availability has for this community. The objectives of the research were as follows: (1) to understand how infertility of various kinds and degrees is situated within the full range of experiences of family formation among British Pakistanis; (2) to identify the personal and social implications of involuntary childlessness for Pakistanis living in Britain at the present time; (3) to describe the various response that members of the community have to this condition; (4) to investigate the ways in which British Pakistanis are engaging with possibilities for treatment that are offered by NRTs; (5) to explore the ethical and religious discourses that currently surround NRTs which enable and facilitate the ethical accommodation of some practices and the rejection of others; (6) to canvass the views of medical professionals performing treatments for British Pakistani Muslim couples facing fertility problems; (7) to use the data and analysis produced to inform policy and practice, and particularly as these relate to the development of culturally appropriate interventions and treatment among ethnic minority groups. Data collection methods included: (1)in-depth semi-structured life face to face interviews; (2) in-depth semi-structured telephone interviews; (3)focus group; (4) participant –observation in an IVF clinic in an NHS hospital. The sample size include: (i) 86 British Pakistani Muslim men and women living on Teesside (from a range of ages, including married, divorced, and unmarried people, those with children and those voluntarily and involuntarily childless); (ii)1 group of British Asian women attending an English class on Teesside; (iii)17 British Pakistani Muslim women or couples recruited on the basis of current previous treatment for fertility problems; (iv) 8 health or social care professionals (1 social worker, 1, GP, 2 consultants in reproductive medicine, 1 nurse, 2 embryologists, 1 infertility counsellor).

This data collection consists of semi- structured interviews conducted between 2013 and 2015 with a cross-section of religious and political activists in Belfast, Bradford, Dublin and London exploring attitudes to martyrdom and self-sacrifice since 1914. The research project examined the development of the concept of martyrdom and sacrificial death in Britain and Ireland since the outbreak of the First World War. It proceeded through archival, library and web-based research on historic sources, including books and pamphlets, newspapers and online databases, supplemented as necessary by site visits. The leadership activities sought to integrate key insights from other relevant GU projects, exploring both various understandings of religion and quasi-religion, and weighing their importance against other non-religious factors. Work proceeded by means of telephone interviews with researchers leading to an initial working paper. User responses were gathered through two seminars and the project website; and selected researchers attended a symposium intended to distil insights and implications for users and to present them in an accessible form. A widely-circulated hardcopy summary of the outcomes together with online video resources was made available to users, who were invited to attend one of a series of dissemination seminars to be held at various locations around the UK. The leadership interviews and accompanying documentation are also deposited in the UK Data Archive in the collection 'Religion martyrdom and global uncertainties - Part 1: Leadership interviews' (see Related Resources). The data was collected in semi-structured interviews, which were subsequently transcribed. The Belfast, Bradford and Dublin interviews were conducted by the Belfast-based Institute for Conflict Research, who were contracted as consultants on the project - the Belfast ones by John Bell and the Bradford and Dublin ones by Neil Jarman The London interviews were conducted by Gavin Moorhead, the project Research Associate. All three interviewers followed a structure developed by the PI and discussed with them in advance. The PI also sat in on a selection of interviews. The objective was to achieve a sample of equal proportions of Catholics, Muslims and Protestants across the four case study sites, taking into account the relative numbers of each group in the four cities. Thus Protestants make up the majority of the Belfast sample, Catholics predominate in Dublin, Muslims in Bradford. These identifications were made on the basis of community background not active religious practice, although interviewees were asked to about their religious practice (or absence of it). A parallel objective was to ensure that at least a third of interviewees were women. The eventual distribution of 46 interviews (including one double interview) was Protestant 13, Muslim 16, Catholic 17; Male 30; Female 16. No attempt was made to achieve an even age distribution, as this was thought to be unrealistic in a limited sample alongside the other sampling requirements: it will be noted that the Catholic and Protestant interviewees were in general older than the Muslim ones. Interviewees were identified through existing contacts and networks and through some 'snowballing'. The researchers received valuable assistance from Dr Muhammad Ilyas in approaching Muslim interviewees in London.

These data were generated as part of an ESRC-funded PhD studentship exploring the understandings and everyday lived experiences of 'faith vegans' in the UK, as well as the intersection between veganism and religion, specifically Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. In order to unravel the phenomenon of 'faith veganism' that was coined in this research project, the researcher recruited 36 UK-based faith vegans (12 Muslim vegans, 12 Jewish vegans, and 12 Christian vegans) and conducted multi-modal qualitative methods, comprising interviews, diary methods, and virtual participant observation. The interview transcripts folder includes the interviews with faith vegans (n=36), as well as a document listing answers to a follow up question that I sent to Muslim participants after the interviews (n=1), the diary transcripts folder includes both the diary entries that were submitted as part of the social media-based diary groups (n=8) and the diary entries that were submitted separately and privately (n=6), and the VPO field notes folder includes the field notes from the virtual participant observation calls (n=6).'Faith Veganism: How the Ethics, Values, and Principles of UK-Based Muslim, Jewish, and Christian Vegans Reshape Veganism and Religiosity' was a four-year PhD project (March 2020 - April 2024) funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/P000673/1). Veganism, a philosophy and practice constituting the eschewal of all animal-derived products and forms of animal exploitation, has grown exponentially in the UK over the past decade, including among individuals of faith. This phenomenon has been increasingly studied within social science, but there is one area that is noticeably absent in existing scholarship: how religion intersects with veganism. Given the perceived centrality of animal bodies to Abrahamic religious observance, coupled with potential ethical similarities between veganism and religion as possible guiding forces in an individual’s life, this intersection is pertinent to study. I asked, how are Muslim, Jewish, and Christian vegans reshaping and redefining veganism and religiosity in late modern Great Britain? I recruited 36 UK-based vegans identifying as either Muslim, Jewish, or Christian, and conducted a multi-modal qualitative methods study in 2021, comprising interviews, diary methods, and virtual participant observation. I then thematically analysed the data, drawing on theories relating to Bourdieusian sociology, reflexive religiosity, and embodied ethics and values. This research revealed that religion and veganism are often mutually constituted, with veganism being understood by faith vegans as an ethical lifestyle that may be incorporated into their religious lifestyles. Religious ethics, values, and principles are reflexively interrogated, enabling participants to bring together faith and veganism. However, for many, religion is non-negotiable, so specific knowledge and support is sought to aid the negotiations that take place around religious practice. Through reflexive religiosity, religious practice becomes veganised, whilst veganism becomes faith based. I developed a series of concepts that help explain the characteristics of faith veganism, such as faith vegan identity, faith vegan community, faith vegan ethics, and faith vegan stewardship, as well as contribute new ways of theorising veganism: as transformative, mobile, reflexive, and more-than-political. Thus, this empirical study offers a new understanding of veganism, one that intersects with and is underpinned by religion, and which I have termed faith veganism. I conducted a multi-modal qualitative methods study, comprising semi-structured interviews which were conducted over Zoom or Microsoft Teams, social media-based diary methods, using a closed Facebook group and private WhatsApp groups, and virtual participant observation using either Zoom, Microsoft Teams or WhatsApp video calls.

The Religion and State (RAS) project is a university-based project located at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. The general goal is to provide detailed codings on several aspects of separation of religion and state for 183 states on a yearly basis between 1990 and 2014. This constitutes all countries with populations of 250,000 or more, as well as a sampling of countries with lower populations.

This module recodes the governmental and societal discrimination variables used in the Religion and State, Round 3 except that it uses a minority group within a state as the unit of analysis. For example, in the UK, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Sikhs are all coded separately. The dataset includes all minorities which are at least 0.2% of the population as well as the following categories of minorities regardless of their population size: (1) Christians in Muslim countries, (2) Muslims in Christian countries, and (3) Jews in Christian-majority and Muslim-majority countries, where present.

Data from the 2001 census suggest that rates of single parenthood and divorce among British Asian populations are on the rise, but the statistics do not offer insights into the underlying dynamics. This project aims to produce new empirical data on the causes, processes and consequences of marital instability and divorce among two major British Asian populations: Pakistani Muslims and Punjabi Sikhs. Whilst a large proportion of both groups marry partners from overseas, they differ in marriage patterns and religion. The project will explore whether such differences shape patterns of marital instability, or whether cross-cutting factors such as class, gender dynamics and life stage are more significant. The Principal Investigator will conduct repeated interviews with Pakistani Muslim and Punjabi Sikh couples who have experienced divorce within the last three years. Intended outputs will help inform questions concerning legal pluralism and diversity in social welfare, reorient debates about conservatism and transnational marriage in British Asian families, and engage with theory concerning the family. Ethical approval has been granted by the Central University Research Ethics Committee of Oxford University.