Number of Catholics, Christians, Protestants and Anglicans in England and Wales

FOI ref: FOI-2023-1387

You asked

I am writing to request information on the number of Catholics in England and Wales, as well as the number of Catholics in London and each London borough and in Kent.

I would like the following categories of information:

• Region
• County
• Borough (if applicable)
• Number of Catholics

For context, I would also like to know the number of Christians and Anglicans (CoE). I would also like it to include the age and gender of the individuals, if possible.

I would like the data from the last two Censuses (2021 and 2011).

We said

Thank you for your request.

The Census asked 'What is your religion?' and eight tick boxes were provided. The second of these was: "Christian (including Church of England, Catholic, Protestant and all other Christian denominations)". The last of these was "Any other religion, write in".  Therefore, if someone wanted to specify they were Catholic or Church of England they would have had to select "Any other religion, write in" and provide a write-in answer.

Although we record every write-in answer, we do not routinely publish counts of them because write-in counts are not population estimates. 

Write-in counts do not represent the number or proportion of the population as a whole who identified with that religion or ethnic group. For instance, the write-in count for Catholics may not represent the overall population estimate of Catholics because while some Catholics may have chosen to provide a write-in response others may have just selected the "Christian (including Church of England, Catholic, Protestant and all other Christian denominations)" tick box.

It is also important to note that the religion question was voluntary and that it measures the religion people connect or identify with (their religious affiliation), whether or not they practise or have belief in it.

If you would like a count from the 2021 Census of people who stated their religion as Catholic or Church of England through a write-in response, this is available via our bespoke services route. Such services are subject to disclosure controls, legal frameworks, resources, and an agreement of costs, subject to our Charging Policy. As stated above, please be aware that this will not be an accurate measure of the Catholic and Church of England populations of England and Wales, owing to the way is which this data is collected. Please contact our Census Customer Services team for more information on this service at Census.Customer.Services@ons.gov.uk.

If you would like to access 2021 Census data by age, sex, local authority, and Christian (inclusive of all denominations), you can do so via our multivariate data tables. The release of multivariate data on 28 March 2023 includes both flexible datasets where you can choose and change the area type, coverage and variables for Census 2021 data, and custom datasets that you make yourself.

There's a short video on this blog to show you how to use the new Create a custom dataset for census, accessible via the following link: New ways to access Census 2021 data video.

Flexible datasets can be accessed here: Data combining multiple variables, England and Wales: Census 2021. The create a custom dataset tool is available via the following web address: ONS create a custom dataset.  

Using the create a custom dataset tool, we have produced a dataset detailing age by sex by religion for all Local Authorities (LA) in England and Wales. Please see the following link to access this information: Census 2021: Age, religion, and sex.

Instructions on how to create other custom datasets are provided in the associated download named 'ONS - Create a Custom Dataset Navigation'.

The equivalent 2011 Census dataset is available in the associated download 'Religion by sex, age and local authority'. This dataset was extracted from Nomis. Nomis is a service run on behalf of the ONS by the university of Durham. 

Census.customerservices@ons.gov.uk can provide further advice should you have any queries about the data or the Nomis service.