The number of people who define themselves as Christians in England and Wales has fallen to 51%, a 8% decrease since the 2011 census.

New data published by the Office for National Statistics shows that while 71.4% of women and 61% of men aged between 60 and 69 adhere to Christianity, the number falls to 35% when young people aged between 20 and 29 are asked.

“No religion” is now the most common answer among children (under 9): 42%, teenagers (10-19): 42%, and young people (20-29): 52%.

In the overall population, the group of those who say they have no religion grew from 31% in the 2011 to 38% in 2019.

Muslims are close to 6% of the population in England and Wales and Hindus under 2%.

London is clearly more religiously active than other parts of the country. One in four people living in the capital city say they have a religion other than Christianity. 14% say they are Muslims. Only 29% of people in London say they have no religion.

“The North East, South West, and Wales were the least religiously diverse regions, with over 95% of their populations Christian or with No religion”, adds the ONS.

Over half of people in London not “White British”

The latest ONS figures also look at ethnicity, showing that 85% of the population in England and Wales identified their ethnicity as “white”, decreasing by 1.2% since the 2011 Census.

London is also more diverse in matters of ethnicity. “Those identifying as White British accounted for 43.4% of London's population compared with 78.4% for England and Wales overall”, the ONS said.

“Excluding White British, the most common ethnic groups in London were Other White (14.6%), Black African (7.9%), and Indian (7.0%)”.