England and Wales: Proportion of Christians falls below 50 percent for the first time

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View of St. Paul's Cathedral in London: "We have left the era behind us"

Photo: MAJA SMIEJKOWSKA / REUTERS

For the first time, less than half of people in England and Wales identify themselves as Christian.

As reported by the ONS statistical office, citing the results of the 2021 referendum, 27.5 million participants or 46.2 percent described themselves as Christians.

That is 13.1 percentage points less than in the previous survey from 2011. However, according to the ONS, Christianity remains by far the most represented religion.

In return, the number of people who do not feel they belong to any religion increased almost to the same extent.

Their share rose from 25.2 percent ten years ago to 37.2 percent or 22.2 million.

The number of Muslims increased in the period from 2.7 million to 3.9 million people, which corresponds to 6.5 percent of the respondents.

The number of Hindus rose by a good 150,000 to one million or around 1.7 percent of the population.

In contrast to other answers, the answer to the question about religious affiliation was voluntary.

94 percent of those surveyed answered it, which corresponds to 56 million people.

Similar development in Germany

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said: "We have left behind the era when most people almost automatically identified themselves as Christians." they could live.

Especially this winter they would also turn to their churches and ask for practical support.

"We will be there for them, in many cases to provide food and warmth," said Cottrell.

It is not only in England and Wales that the church is fighting against a decline in membership.

In Germany, too, the Roman Catholic and the Evangelical Church continue to lose influence.

According to projections by experts, for the first time in centuries more than 50 percent of the people in Germany are neither Roman Catholic nor Protestant.

"It's a historical turning point because, viewed as a whole, for the first time in centuries it is no longer 'normal' in Germany to be a church member," said the Berlin social scientist Carsten Frerk from the Weltanschauungen in Deutschland (fowid) research group, which is run by of the religion-critical and humanistic Giordano Bruno Foundation.

bam/dpa