For the second consecutive time a
religion question was included in the decennial censuses.
Scotland,
like England and Wales, continues to have a Christian majority - but only
just.
The
questions are different north and south of the border. The Scottish one which
asks people to respond to the question 'What religion, religious denomination
or body do you belong to?'.seems to require a stronger commitment to a
denomination in an answer. In Scotland, as well, three alternatives are
provided for the Christian category. The English question is what is your
religion?
In Scotland
54% said they were Christian - in contrast to England and Wales where the
figure was 59%
The
Christian percentage share of the population fell by 17% 2001-2011 both north
and south of the border
If this rate of change continues Scotland will
have less than half the population as Christian sometime in 2014.
‘No-religion’ increasing
Respondents
indicating they have no religion are increasing - in 2011 37% in Scotland, 25%
in England. The rate of increase in population share in the ten years between censuses for this group was 36% in England and
Wales and 32% in Scotland.
Religion is less diverse in Scotland. Non
Christian religions in England and Wales constitute 8.4% of the population - in
Scotland the equivalent figure is 2.5%. The Christian/non-Christian ratio is
7:1 in England and Wales and 21:1 in Scotland.
Muslims are
the largest non-Christian religion in both countries - 4.8% in England and
Wales and 1.4% in Scotland.
