Religion & Geographic Distribution

(Sources: Census 2001, Office for National Statistics Census 2001, General Register Office for Scotland)

• People from non-Christian religions are more likely to live in England than in Scotland or Wales. In 2001 they made up 6% of the population in England, compared with only 2% in Wales and 1% in Scotland.
• People from Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Sikh backgrounds were concentrated in London and other large urban areas. Christians and those with no religion were more evenly dispersed across the country.
• The Jewish population was the most heavily concentrated in London, with 56% of the Jewish population of Great Britain living there.
• Just over half (52%) of Britain's Hindu population lived in London. A further 12% lived in the East Midlands and 10% in the West Midlands, with large populations living in particular pockets within these broad areas.
• Around two-fifths of Muslims (38%) lived in London. After London, the regions with the next biggest share of the Muslim population were the West Midlands (14%), the North West (13%), and Yorkshire and the Humber (12%). Even within these regions, Muslims were highly concentrated spatially.
• Almost 1/3 (31%) of the Sikh population lived in the West Midlands. A further 31% of the Sikh population lived in London.
• Of the 149,000 Buddhists living in Britain in 2001, 36% were in London.
• Christians were spread across Britain. London had the lowest proportion of Christians - only 58% of the London population described themselves in this way. People in the North East and the North West were the most likely to describe themselves as Christian with four out of five people in each of these regions doing so. People in these regions were the least likely to say they had no religion.