Religion responses in the 'other' category of the Census 2021

FOI Ref: ​FOI/2023/5058

You asked

With reference to the religion question on Census 2021.

Please could I request a breakdown of the responses in the 'other' category that totalled over 50,000 responses.

We said

Thank you for your request.

In 2021, 404,927 people (0.7% of the overall population of England and Wales) wrote-in a response to the religion question which did not map to any of the tick-box options.

We have produced a detailed classification of population estimates for 57 religious group in the Religion (detailed) classification. This classification includes 43 additional religious groups derived from the 'Any other religion, write in' response option, including "Other religion: Scientology".

This 57-group classification was reviewed and developed on:

• New user needs (identified through stakeholder engagement and a public consultation)

• The groups published for the 2011 census data (to help with consistency for comparing data between censuses)

• The number of people who responded with the same identity (to ensure confidentiality in our published data)

As a result, there are a number of religious groups included in this classification with population estimates below 50,000, as well as those with estimates above 50,000.

There is more information on population estimates for some of these groups in our 'Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021' statistical bulletin (released alongside this dataset). You can also find further information on the demographic characteristics of some of these groups in our 'Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021' publication.

The associated data download Religion question responses Census 2021.xlsx shows the breakdown of all responses in the religion category. The only group from the 'other' category with over 50,000 responses is Pagan.

More detailed data and analysis on religion will be published in the coming months. You can read more about our ethnicity, identity, language and religion analysis plans and the release plans for Census 2021 more generally. It is also worth noting that additional tables can be requested through the census commission tables team.