From Satanism to Scientology: New Census data reveals the number of people practicing different religions in Wakefield

The religion question is voluntary and in 2021, 94.0% (56.0 million) of usual residents answered the question, an increase from 92.9% (52.1 million) in 2011.

For the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as “Christian”, a 13.1 percentage point decrease from 59.3% (33.3 million) in 2011; despite this decrease, “Christian” remained the most common response to the religion question.

“No religion” was the second most common response, increasing by 12.0 percentage points to 37.2% (22.2 million) from 25.2% (14.1 million) in 2011.

There were increases in the number of people who described themselves as “Muslim” (3.9 million, 6.5% in 2021, up from 2.7 million, 4.9% in 2011) and “Hindu” (1.0 million, 1.7% in 2021, up from 818,000, 1.5% in 2011).

What is the most practiced religion in Wakefield?

The most common response from residents in Wakefield was “Christian” (173,070) while “no religion” had 145,751 responses.

A total of 11,279 described themselves as “Muslim” 1,270 as “Hindu” and 797 “Buddhist” and 501 “Sikh”.

There were 65 people who said they were “Atheist” while 32 people described their religion as “Satanism”. Five people responded with “Witchcraft” and four people “Occult.” 81 people responded with “Wicca” 449 “Pagan” and three people said they practiced “Scientology”.

The other religions residents describe themselves in Wakefield are (number of people practicing in brackets):

Spiritualist (279)

Jewish (127)

Agnostic (113)

Heathen (41)

Humanist (19)

Rastafarian (19)

Druid (11)