Brighton and Bristol among areas where under a third of people are Christian

The figures provide a snapshot of religious belief across England and Wales on the day of the census, March 21 2021.

People on the sea front in Brighton during England’s third national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. (PA Archive)

Brighton and Bristol are among eight local areas of England where less than a third of the population describe themselves as Christian, according to the latest census data.

Leicester and Slough have a similarly low proportion, together with four London boroughs: Camden, Hackney, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets.

The figures provide a snapshot of religious belief across England and Wales on the day of the census, March 21 2021.

They show around two in three local authorities (218) saw fewer than 50% of people describing themselves as Christian, while in the remaining third (113) the proportion was 50% or higher.

Tower Hamlets has the lowest proportion, at just 22.3%.

Leicester has the second lowest figure (24.7%), followed by Redbridge (30.4%), Hackney (30.7%), Brighton & Hove (30.9%), Camden (31.4%), Slough (32.0%) and Bristol (32.2%).

Other areas below 40% include Birmingham (34.0%), Nottingham (34.7%), Cambridge (35.2%) and Manchester (36.2%).

The lowest proportion in Wales is 36.4% in Caerphilly, followed by Rhondda Cynon Taf (also 36.4%) and Blaenau Gwent (36.5%).

The same three areas of Wales have the highest proportion of people describing themselves as having no religion, with 56.7% in Caerphilly, 56.4% in Blaenau Gwent and 56.2% in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Brighton & Hove has the highest proportion in England saying they have no religion, at 55.2%, followed by Norwich (53.5%) and Bristol (51.4%).

Tower Hamlets has the highest proportion in England and Wales describing themselves as Muslim (39.9%), followed by Blackburn with Darwen (35.0%) and Newham in London (34.8%).

The highest figures for people describing themselves as Hindu are in Harrow in London (25.8%), followed by Leicester (17.9%) and the London borough of Brent (15.6%).

Overall, 27.5 million people in England and Wales described themselves as Christian on the day of the 2021 census, or 46.2%.

This is down from 33.3 million (59.3%) a decade earlier and is the first time the proportion has dropped below a half.

At the same time, the percentage of people saying they had no religion has jumped from around a quarter in 2011 (25.2%, or 14.1 million) to over a third in 2021 (37.2%, or 22.2 million).