FOI REF: FOI-2023-1114
You asked
I would like to request information about how many people have identified as Wiccan and Pagan in Oldham, Manchester.
We said
Thank you for your request.
In the England & Wales Census 2021 in Oldham, Manchester, 37 people identified as "Other religion: Wicca" and 159 people identified as "Other religion: Pagan" using the 'Any other religion, write-in' response option.
In Census 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: Wicca" and "Other religion: Pagan" and is available to download at a number of geographies (including local authority).
There is more information on population estimates for many 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 both "Other religion: Wicca" and "Other religion: Pagan" at a national level in our 'Religion by age and sex, England and Wales: Census 2021' publication.
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.