Census religion results 2021: how many Scientologists, witches and Satanists are there in Birmingham?

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The latest results from the 2021 Census show that people follow Scientology, Satanism, witchcraft in Birmingham and the wider region

From Scientology to Satanism, thousands of people across England and Wales are following religions outside of the mainstream, according to the latest results produced by the 2021 Census.

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The Census found 75,000 people described themselves as Pagan, one of the world’s oldest religions which dates back thousands of years, while almost 2,000 identified under Scientology, the relatively new religion famously set up by L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s. There are also thousands of people who identify as following Satanism, witchcraft, Wicca, druidism and occultism.

The research also found that 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’.

Some people in Birmingham recorded ‘Scientology’ as their religion on the 2021 census Some people in Birmingham recorded ‘Scientology’ as their religion on the 2021 census
Some people in Birmingham recorded ‘Scientology’ as their religion on the 2021 census | Image

How many Scientologists, witches and Satanists are there in city and region?

In the West Midlands, 114 people said they were scientologists, and 90 practised witchcraft.

423 people also said they were satanists in the region.

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In Birmingham, 43 people said they were scientologists, with 12 people describing their religious belief as witchcraft.

75 people in Birmingham also said they were satanists.

What else does the religious data show in Birmingham?

In England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as ‘Christian’.

This is 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.

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‘No religion’ was the second most common response in England and Wales, 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).

In Birmingham, Christian also remained the most common response to the religion question, as 389,406 people described themselves as Christian.

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341,811 people described themseleves as Muslim in the city, with 275,614 people saying they had no religion.

The data shows that 33,126 said they were Sikh and 21,997 are Hindu. 4,340 described themsleves as Buddhist and 1,687 said they were Jewish.

Wales had a greater decrease in people reporting their religion as “Christian” (14.0 percentage point decrease, from 57.6% in 2011 to 43.6% in 2021) and increase in “No religion” (14.5 percentage point increase, from 32.1% in 2011 to 46.5% in 2021) compared with England and Wales overall.

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London remains the most religiously diverse region of England in 2021, with over a quarter (25.3%) of all usual residents reporting a religion other than “Christian”; the North East and South West are the least religiously diverse regions, with 4.2% and 3.2%, respectively, selecting a religion other than “Christian”.

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