Christianity in the UK Statistics: What the Latest Census Data Shows

Christianity in the UK statistics: what the latest census data shows

Christianity remains the largest religion in England and Wales, but the latest census figures show a much smaller share than in previous decades. The pattern is not just a broad decline; it also varies by nation, city, age group, housing tenure, and participation in church life.

At a glance
The main Christianity trend
How the UK nations compare
Age and gender patterns
Housing, work, and education context
Church attendance and worshipping community
What the numbers suggest

At a glance

Big number: Christianity was reported by 46.2% of the England and Wales population in Census 2021, equal to 27.5 million people (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).

Big change: Christian affiliation fell from 59.3% in 2011 to 46.2% in 2021 in England and Wales (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).

Long view: In 2001, 71.7% of England and Wales reported Christianity (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).

A few headline points stand out immediately:

Christianity is still the largest single religion in England and Wales, but it is now a minority share rather than an overwhelming majority.
The fall is sharp enough to matter in national comparisons, local planning, and any discussion of how religion fits into modern social life.
Age structure matters. Christians are older on average than people with no religion, and that helps explain some of the long-run movement in the totals.
The picture across the UK is not identical. England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland all show different religious balances and different trajectories.

The main Christianity trend

The clearest story is the long decline in Christian identification across England and Wales. The census series gives three useful anchor points:

Census year	Christian share	Count	Source
2001	71.7%	Not provided	ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021
2011	59.3%	33.3 million	ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021
2021	46.2%	27.5 million	ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021

That table shows more than a percentage decline. It shows a re-scaling of the religious landscape. A 46.2% share is still substantial, but it is very different from a 71.7% share.

The 2011 to 2021 movement is especially important because it happened within a single decade:

Christian affiliation dropped 13.1 percentage points from 59.3% to 46.2% (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).
The count fell from 33.3 million to 27.5 million over that period (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Wales also saw a large shift, which means the decline is not just an England-specific pattern (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).

The data also suggests the decline is not a simple one-dimensional story of people leaving one group and entering another. A major part of the change is the growth of people reporting no religion, especially among younger cohorts. That matters because religious identification often reflects generational replacement as much as individual switching.

How the UK nations compare

The UK is often discussed as if religion were moving in one uniform direction, but the country-by-country detail is more nuanced. England and Wales are covered by the 2021 census release, Scotland has its own 2022 census, and Northern Ireland has its own 2021 census system.

England and Wales

England’s Christian share was 46.3% in 2021, while Wales was slightly lower at 43.6% (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021). That difference is modest at the headline level, but Wales also experienced a striking rise in no religion:

Wales recorded a 14.5 percentage point rise in no religion, from 32.1% in 2011 to 46.5% in 2021 (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Wales recorded a 14.0 percentage point fall in Christian affiliation, from 57.6% in 2011 to 43.6% in 2021 (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).

London is even more distinct. Its Christian share was 40.7% in 2021 (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021), which is lower than the England average. The capital also recorded a 25.3% share for people other than Christian, plus a 15.0% Muslim share and a 5.1% Hindu share (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021). That makes London the clearest example of religious diversity in the supplied data.

Scotland

Scotland’s 2022 census showed 51.1% with no religion (Scotland’s Census 2022 religion results). That is a strong signal that the non-religious category has become the largest single response in Scotland. The Christian traditions there remain important, but they are much smaller than in earlier censuses:

Church of Scotland: 20.4% in 2022 (Scotland’s Census 2022 religion results).
Roman Catholic: 13.3% in 2022 (Scotland’s Census 2022 religion results).
Other Christian: 5.1% in 2022 (Scotland’s Census 2022 religion results).
Church of Scotland share in 2011: 32.4% (Scotland’s Census religion at a glance).
Church of Scotland share in 2001: 42.4% (Scotland’s Census religion at a glance).

The Scottish data points in the same direction as England and Wales, but with a different balance between Christian traditions and no religion.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland still has the strongest Christian identification of the four nations in the supplied figures, but the structure is complex. The 2021 census population was 1,903,175, with 768,810 households (NISRA Census 2021 population and household estimates). Religion responses were recorded as:

42% Catholic (NISRA Equality Harmonisation, Census 2021)
37% Protestant and other Christian religions (NISRA Equality Harmonisation, Census 2021)
17% no religion (NISRA Equality Harmonisation, Census 2021)
2% did not state a religion (NISRA Equality Harmonisation, Census 2021)

The detailed religion table adds more texture:

805,151 Catholics (NISRA Flexible Table Builder, Religion MS-B19)
316,103 Presbyterians (NISRA Flexible Table Builder, Religion MS-B19)
219,788 Church of Ireland members (NISRA Flexible Table Builder, Religion MS-B19)
44,725 Methodists (NISRA Flexible Table Builder, Religion MS-B19)
130,377 Other Christian religions (NISRA Flexible Table Builder, Religion MS-B19)
330,983 people with no religion (NISRA Flexible Table Builder, Religion MS-B19)
30,529 religion not stated (NISRA Flexible Table Builder, Religion MS-B19)

That mix matters because Northern Ireland is not simply a Christian majority region in the same way England used to be. It is a region where Christian identity still dominates the response pattern, but with a large no-religion minority and a denominational split that remains highly visible.

Age and gender patterns

The strongest reason the headline Christian share has fallen is that religion varies sharply by age. The supplied age data makes that obvious.

Group	Median age	Source
Christians	51 years	ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021
No religion	32 years	ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021
Muslims	27 years	ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021
London population	35 years	ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021
England population	40 years	ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021

That table shows a very wide age gap between Christians and people with no religion. It also shows that Muslims are younger still, which contributes to a different long-term demographic profile.

Why the age gap matters

The age distribution is not a side issue. It changes how a religion looks in the census today and how it may look ten or twenty years from now. A religion with a higher median age tends to have more people in older age brackets, while a younger group has more people moving into adulthood and family formation.

The supplied figures make this visible:

The gap between the youngest median age group, Muslims, and the oldest, Christians, widened from 20 years in 2011 to 24 years in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Christians aged 65 and over made up 29.0% of the Christian population in England and Wales in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
That 65+ Christian population numbered 7,992,765 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
By comparison, the overall England and Wales population aged 65 and over was 18.6% in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).

That means Christianity is more concentrated in older ages than the overall population. The result is not only a present-day difference in age structure; it is also a clue to why the share can fall even if many individuals remain Christian over their lives.

Younger Christian cohorts are shrinking

The change is especially visible in younger Christian age bands:

Christians aged 21 to 25 were 5.1% of Christians in 2011, but 3.9% in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
The number of Christians aged 21 to 25 fell from 1.7 million in 2011 to 1.1 million in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
The 11 to 15 cohort represented 5.5% of Christians in 2011, but 3.9% in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
The number of Christians in the 11 to 15 cohort fell from 1,819,119 in 2011 to 1,086,345 in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).

These are not small shifts. They show that younger Christian identification has weakened even inside the religion itself.

Gender balance is different across groups

The census also shows gender patterns that are worth noting:

Women made up 54.6% of Christians in England and Wales in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Women made up 51.0% of the overall England and Wales population in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Of the no religion population, 52.9% were male in 2021 (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
In Scotland, 53.8% of males had no religion in 2022, compared with 48.6% of females (Scotland’s Census 2022 religion results).

The male-female split is not the main story, but it is consistent with the broader observation that religion is not distributed evenly across demographic groups.

Housing, work, and education context

The census data also links religion with broader social and economic patterns. That does not mean religion causes these outcomes. It means the religious groups differ in ways that are useful for interpreting the broader population picture.

Housing tenure and overcrowding

Among the supplied housing measures, Christians stood out for home ownership outright:

Christians were most likely to live in households that owned their home outright at 36.0% (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
The overall England and Wales population owned their home outright at 27.1% (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Muslims had 45.6% owner-occupation in England and Wales in 2021 (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
The overall England and Wales owner-occupation rate was 62.8% in 2021 (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Muslims had 26.6% social rented housing compared with 16.6% overall (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Muslims had 32.7% overcrowded housing, versus 8.4% overall (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).

These figures point to very different housing situations across religious groups. In particular, the contrast between owner-occupation, social renting, and overcrowding suggests that religion intersects with age, household structure, and local housing markets.

Employment and economic status

The employment figures also show notable differences:

Muslims had a 51.4% employment rate among people aged 16 to 64 in England and Wales in 2021 (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
The overall employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 was 70.9% (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Christians had a retired share of 4.6% among people aged 16 to 64 (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Christians had the lowest student share at 5.4% among religious groups in England and Wales in 2021 (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Christians had an unpaid care rate of 10.0% (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).

Because Christians are older on average, employment comparisons need to be read carefully. A group with a high retired share will naturally have different labour-market patterns from a younger group. That is why the age data and the employment data need to be interpreted together.

Education patterns

Education gives another angle on the same theme.

Christians had 31.6% with Level 4 or above qualifications in England and Wales in 2021 (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).
The overall England and Wales Level 4 or above rate was 33.8% in 2021 (ONS Religion by housing, health, employment and education, England and Wales: Census 2021).

That difference is not dramatic, but it reinforces the general point that the Christian population is distinctive in its age structure and social profile.

Church attendance and worshipping community

Census affiliation is not the same thing as participation. The Church of England statistics show that distinction clearly.

The Church of England reported 693,000 average weekly attenders in 2023 (Church of England Statistics for Mission 2023).
That was a 4.5% increase from 2022 (Church of England Statistics for Mission 2023).
The Church of England recorded 95,000 child attenders in 2023 (Church of England Statistics for Mission 2023).
Its worshipping community reached 1,007,000 in 2023 (Church of England Statistics for Mission 2023).
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day attendance reached 1,961,000 in 2023 (Church of England Statistics for Mission 2023).
Easter attendance reached 938,000 in 2023 (Church of England Statistics for Mission 2023).

These figures matter because they show that formal religious participation still exists at scale even when affiliation is falling. The worshipping community is larger than the average weekly attendance figure, and the seasonal spikes at Christmas and Easter remain very large.

That gives a more complete picture of Christianity in the UK:

affiliation is falling over time,
age profiles are older for Christians than for some other groups,
participation still remains visible in national church statistics,
and the religion remains socially significant even as its census share declines.

What the numbers suggest

The data points in several directions at once, and that is the most useful way to read it.

Christianity is still the largest religion in England and Wales, but it is no longer dominant in the way it once was (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).
The decline is long-running, with the share falling from 71.7% in 2001 to 46.2% in 2021 (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Wales and London show especially strong shifts toward no religion or more mixed religious profiles (ONS Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Christians are older on average, which makes the age structure a major factor in understanding the numbers (ONS Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021).
Church of England attendance data suggests that active participation is still meaningful, even if affiliation is no longer the same as in past decades (Church of England Statistics for Mission 2023).
Northern Ireland remains distinct, with a stronger Christian balance than England, Wales, or Scotland, but with a sizable no-religion share as well (NISRA Equality Harmonisation, Census 2021).

The most important takeaway is not that one number defines religion in the UK. It is that the UK now contains several overlapping religious patterns at once: older Christian populations, younger non-religious and Muslim populations, regional differences, and continued institutional participation through churches and other traditions.