England and Wales are now minority Christian countries, according to the 2021 census, which also shows that Leicester and Birmingham have become the first UK cities to have “minority majorities”.
In percentage-point terms, the number of Christians has dropped by 13.1, and the number of Muslims has risen by 1.7.
It is the first time in a census of England and Wales that fewer than half of the population have described themselves as Christian.
Meanwhile, 37.2% of people – 22.2 million – declared they had “no religion”, the second most common response after Christian.
“It’s official – we are no longer a Christian country,” said Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the National Secular Society.
“The census figures paint a picture of a population that has dramatically moved away from Christianity – and from religion as a whole.
The census did not ask people whether they were Church of England, Catholic or any other denomination, but the findings are likely to indicate shrinking congregations for the established Anglican churches of England and Wales. »