In 2019, there were estimated to be approximately 1.28 million Muslims living in London, making it the region of England and Wales with the highest Muslim population. Large Muslim populations also live in other English regions, such as the West Midlands, the North West, and Yorkshire.
In 2016, it was estimated that Birmingham had the largest Muslim population of any local authority in England and Wales at approximately 280 thousand people. Newham and Tower Hamlets, both boroughs of London, had the second and third-largest Muslim populations at 135 and 128 thousand respectively.
This statistic shows the results of a survey of British adults which asked them to indicate how positive or negative their views on Muslims in the UK were in 2018, by region. Respondents in Scotland viewed Muslims the most positively, followed by London and the North of England.
This statistic shows the Muslim population of England and Wales in 2011, broken down by age group. As can be seen in the statistic there are more under 16s than any other age group, numbering 895,137 people. Those aged over 55 compose around 229 thousand of the 2.7 million Muslims recorded in this census.
http://reference.data.gov.uk/id/open-government-licencehttp://reference.data.gov.uk/id/open-government-licence
Table showing percentage of resident population (all ages) broken down into six faiths, plus no religion and any other religion. Data is taken from the Annual Population Survey (ONS).
The data covers: Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, any other religion and no religion at all.
Percentages are shown.
Or alternatively, faith data from the 2011 Census is able to show numbers for each of the main religions.
This statistic shows the estimated number of Muslims living in different European countries as of 2016. Approximately 5.72 million Muslims were estimated to live in France, the most of any country listed. Germany and the United Kingdom also have large muslim populations with 4.95 million and 4.13 million respectively.
This statistic displays the projected Muslim population proportions in selected European countries in 2050, by scenario. In 2010 the proportion of Muslims in the population of Germany was 4.1 percent, compared with 6.3 percent in the UK and 7.5 percent in France. Depending on the different migration scenarios estimated here, Germany's share of Muslims in the population could rise up to 19.7 percent of it's population by 2050, higher than both the UK and France, with projected Muslim populations of 17.2 and 18 percent respectively.
Approximately 39,068 prisoners in England and Wales identified as being Christian in 2024, the most of any religious faith among prisoners. A further 27,122 identified as having no religion, while 15,909 identified as Muslims.
In 1800, the population of the area of modern-day Bangladesh was estimated to be just over 19 million, a figure which would rise steadily throughout the 19th century, reaching over 26 million by 1900. At the time, Bangladesh was the eastern part of the Bengal region in the British Raj, and had the most-concentrated Muslim population in the subcontinent's east. At the turn of the 20th century, the British colonial administration believed that east Bengal was economically lagging behind the west, and Bengal was partitioned in 1905 as a means of improving the region's development. East Bengal then became the only Muslim-majority state in the eastern Raj, which led to socioeconomic tensions between the Hindu upper classes and the general population. Bengal Famine During the Second World War, over 2.5 million men from across the British Raj enlisted in the British Army and their involvement was fundamental to the war effort. The war, however, had devastating consequences for the Bengal region, as the famine of 1943-1944 resulted in the deaths of up to three million people (with over two thirds thought to have been in the east) due to starvation and malnutrition-related disease. As the population boomed in the 1930s, East Bengal's mismanaged and underdeveloped agricultural sector could not sustain this growth; by 1942, food shortages spread across the region, millions began migrating in search of food and work, and colonial mismanagement exacerbated this further. On the brink of famine in early-1943, authorities in India called for aid and permission to redirect their own resources from the war effort to combat the famine, however these were mostly rejected by authorities in London. While the exact extent of each of these factors on causing the famine remains a topic of debate, the general consensus is that the British War Cabinet's refusal to send food or aid was the most decisive. Food shortages did not dissipate until late 1943, however famine deaths persisted for another year. Partition to independence Following the war, the movement for Indian independence reached its final stages as the process of British decolonization began. Unrest between the Raj's Muslim and Hindu populations led to the creation of two separate states in1947; the Muslim-majority regions became East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (now Pakistan), separated by the Hindu-majority India. Although East Pakistan's population was larger, power lay with the military in the west, and authorities grew increasingly suppressive and neglectful of the eastern province in the following years. This reached a tipping point when authorities failed to respond adequately to the Bhola cyclone in 1970, which claimed over half a million lives in the Bengal region, and again when they failed to respect the results of the 1970 election, in which the Bengal party Awami League won the majority of seats. Bangladeshi independence was claimed the following March, leading to a brutal war between East and West Pakistan that claimed between 1.5 and three million deaths in just nine months. The war also saw over half of the country displaced, widespread atrocities, and the systematic rape of hundreds of thousands of women. As the war spilled over into India, their forces joined on the side of Bangladesh, and Pakistan was defeated two weeks later. An additional famine in 1974 claimed the lives of several hundred thousand people, meaning that the early 1970s was one of the most devastating periods in the country's history. Independent Bangladesh In the first decades of independence, Bangladesh's political hierarchy was particularly unstable and two of its presidents were assassinated in military coups. Since transitioning to parliamentary democracy in the 1990s, things have become comparatively stable, although political turmoil, violence, and corruption are persistent challenges. As Bangladesh continues to modernize and industrialize, living standards have increased and individual wealth has risen. Service industries have emerged to facilitate the demands of Bangladesh's developing economy, while manufacturing industries, particularly textiles, remain strong. Declining fertility rates have seen natural population growth fall in recent years, although the influx of Myanmar's Rohingya population due to the displacement crisis has seen upwards of one million refugees arrive in the country since 2017. In 2020, it is estimated that Bangladesh has a population of approximately 165 million people.
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In 2019, there were estimated to be approximately 1.28 million Muslims living in London, making it the region of England and Wales with the highest Muslim population. Large Muslim populations also live in other English regions, such as the West Midlands, the North West, and Yorkshire.