One-in-seven Britons 'have no religion'

One-in-seven Britons do not consider themselves to be part of any religion, figures from the 2001 census have revealed.

According to the study, 'Focus on Religion' published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 15% of people – or 8.6 million people – said they had no religion. Seventy-two per cent of people (41 million) identified themselves as Christian, making it the largest religious group; Muslims were the second largest religious group at 1.6 million people.

People with no religion were the most likely to be cohabiting (16% of 16 to 24 year olds in 2001) – and Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims were the least likely to be among this group.

According to geographic distribution, minority religions tended to be concentrated in London. The Jewish population was the most heavily concentrated in London, with 56% of the Jewish population of Great Britain living there in 2001. Just over half (52%) of Britain's Hindu population and around two fifths (38%) of Muslims lived in London.

The census also revealed that the Muslim community is "young, tightly clustered, and often disadvantaged".

One-in-three Muslims of working age were found to have no qualifications - the highest proportion for any religious group. And the unemployment rate for Muslim men was 14% in 2003-2004, over three times the rate for Christian men (4%). The rate for Muslim women was 15%, almost four times the rate for Christian women (4%).

Around one in three Jewish people and around one-in-five Muslims were self-employed in 2003-2004. This compared with around one-in-10 Christians, Sikhs and those with no religion.

The census also found that less than 37% of Hindus living in Britain in 2001 had been born in the UK. A similar proportion had been born in Asia (39%), predominantly India (30%), and 6% had been born in Sri Lanka.

(gmcg/mb)