Religion in the United Kingdom

This article is about religion in the United Kingdom as a whole. For religion in each of its constituent countries, see Religion in England, Religion in Scotland, Religion in Wales, and Religion in Northern Ireland.

Religion in England and Wales (2021 United Kingdom census)[1]

  Christian (46.2%)
  No religion (37.2%)
  Muslim (6.5%)
  Hindu (1.7%)
  Sikh (0.9%)
  Buddhist (0.5%)
  Jewish (0.5%)
  Other religions (0.6%)
  Not stated (6.0%)

Religion in Scotland (2022 census for Scotland)[2]

  No religion (51.1%)
  Church of Scotland (20.4%)
  Roman Catholic (13.3%)
  Other Christian (5.1%)
  Muslim (2.2%)
  Hindu (0.6%)
  Buddhist (0.3%)
  Sikh (0.2%)
  Jewish (0.1%)
  Paganism (0.4%)
  Other religions (0.2%)
  Not stated (6.2%)

Religion in the United Kingdom is mainly expressed in Christianity, which dominated the land since the 7th century. Results of the 2021 Census for England and Wales showed that Christianity is the largest religion (though makes up less than half of the population), followed by the non-religious, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

Among Christians, Anglicanism[3] is the most common denomination, followed by Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Methodism, Unitarianism, and Baptism.

The Church of England is the state church of the largest member country, England. The Church of England defines itself as neither fully reformed Protestant nor fully Catholic. The Monarch of the United Kingdom is the supreme governor of the Church. The strictly Presbyterian Church of Scotland is likewise the official religion of Scotland. Both Northern Ireland and Wales have no state religion since the Irish Church Act 1869 and the Welsh Church Act 1914, respectively.

A large number of individuals have no religious affiliation, and many others are only nominally affiliated, and neither believe nor practice. Surveys find that agnosticism, nontheism, atheism and the like are views shared by a majority of Britons.[4] In addition to secularisation, post-WWII immigration turned the religious landscape more diverse, adding non-Christian beliefs and traditions and turning society somewhat multi-faith.

  1. ^ "Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021". ons.gov.uk. Office for National Statistics (ONS). 29 November 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Religion and ethnic group results published". nrscotland.gov.uk. National Records of Scotland. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Europe's religious landscape: Faith and religious diversity in an era of rapid change" (PDF). Retrieved 18 October 2024.
  4. ^ Staff. "British Social Attitudes: Religion, Identity, behaviour and belief over two decades" (PDF). The National Centre for Social Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2024.