Census data on religion by age and sex

Reference: FOI-2024-1700

You asked

I came across your data analysis from January 2023 titled: Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021. 

Primarily, of the people who reported "No religion", that is no religious affiliation whatsoever - 91.2% were aged under 65 years. This caused the ONS to conclude that the people who reported "No religion" were younger than the overall population.

Please provide:

• What slice of the 91.2% of respondents [under 65 years] were of specific age between 16 to 25 years old?
• And also how do they compare to the Dataset from Census 2011. Meaning, from the 2021 Census, do we approximate that a higher number of people aged 16 to 25 identified as "non-religious" compared to 2011?

We said

Thank you for your freedom of information request. 

The statistics you require (religion by age) are available from the dataset featured in the release you mention - Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021.

Census 2021: Religion by age and sex dataset and an equivalent 2011 Census dataset is available in the associated downloads.

It is important to note, the question on religion is voluntary. In the census data, religion refers to a person's religious affiliation. This is the religion with which they connect or identify, rather than their beliefs or active religious practice. As the question is voluntary, be cautious when comparing figures between different areas or between censuses because of varying response rates. 

Percentages are calculated out of the overall population as opposed to out of the population who answered the religion question. This aids comparison across time and between areas, as the percentage of the population who answer the question varies. 

We do not provide additional comment to statistics other than that already provided in our published releases/analysis articles.