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Analysis of Ethnicity in the 2001 Census - Summary Report
6. RELIGION
Current religion
Table 6.1: Scottish population by current religion - All People
| Thousands | Percentages |
Church of Scotland | 2,146 | 42.4 |
Roman Catholic | 804 | 15.9 |
Other Christian | 345 | 6.8 |
Buddhist | 6.8 | 0.13 |
Hindu | 5.6 | 0.11 |
Jewish | 6.4 | 0.13 |
Muslim | 43 | 0.84 |
Sikh | 6.6 | 0.13 |
Another Religion | 27 | 0.53 |
All Religions | 3,389 | 67 |
No religion | 1,394 | 27.5 |
Not stated | 278 | 5.5 |
All no religion/not stated | 1,672 | 33 |
Base | 5,062 | 100 |
- Just over two-thirds (67%) of the Scottish population reported having a religion.
- The most common faith was Christianity: 65.1% of the population are members of the Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic Church or Other Christian churches.
- The next most common faith was Islam (0.84%) followed by Other religions (0.53%), Buddhism (0.13%), Jewish (0.13%), Sikhism (0.13%) and Hinduism (0.11%).
- The Census religion question was voluntary, but nevertheless only 5.5% chose not to answer it.
Table 6.2: Current religion by ethnic group - All People
Percentages
Ethnic Group | Church of Scotland | Roman Catholic | Other Christian | Buddhist | Hindu | Jewish | Muslim | Sikh | Another religion | No religion | Not stated | Base |
White Scottish | 46.7 | 15.9 | 4.3 | 0.1 | - | 0.1 | - | - | 0.4 | 27.1 | 5.4 | 4,459,071 |
Other White British | 13.9 | 8.5 | 33.8 | 0.2 | - | 0.3 | 0.1 | - | 1.5 | 35.6 | 6.0 | 373,685 |
White Irish | 6.7 | 68.6 | 6.5 | 0.1 | - | 0.1 | 0.1 | - | 0.9 | 12.3 | 4.7 | 49,428 |
Other White | 8.0 | 27.8 | 20.3 | 0.4 | - | 1.0 | 2.4 | - | 2.0 | 30.8 | 7.5 | 78,150 |
Indian | 2.4 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 30.5 | 0.1 | 5.9 | 37.6 | 0.9 | 9.1 | 6.0 | 15,037 |
Pakistani | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | - | 0.1 | - | 89.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 2.8 | 6.1 | 31,793 |
Bangladeshi | 2.0 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 84.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 3.9 | 5.3 | 1,981 |
Other South Asian | 4.9 | 6.5 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 9.2 | 0.2 | 43.2 | 3.8 | 2.3 | 11.5 | 10.3 | 6,196 |
Chinese | 3.4 | 4.3 | 8.8 | 11.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 63.1 | 7.2 | 16,310 |
Caribbean | 13.6 | 17.6 | 22.7 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 32.0 | 10.9 | 1,778 |
African | 9.3 | 18.2 | 32.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 18.5 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 12.4 | 7.7 | 5,118 |
Black Scottish or Other Black | 20.4 | 18.3 | 14.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 8.7 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 23.1 | 12.5 | 1,129 |
Any Mixed Background | 13.6 | 16.8 | 10.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 10.7 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 35.7 | 8.9 | 12,764 |
Other ethnic group | 4.4 | 15.7 | 8.4 | 9.8 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 32.4 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 17.5 | 7.8 | 9,571 |
All People | 42.4 | 15.9 | 6.8 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 27.5 | 5.5 | 5,062,011 |
Table 6.2 shows current religion by ethnic group .
- Christianity is the most common religion for all four White groups and also for Caribbean, African and Other Black Scottish people.
- Sikhism is the most common faith among Indian people (37.6%) followed by Hinduism (30.5%)
- 89.2% of Pakistanis, 84.3% of Bangladeshis and 43.2% of Other South Asian people are Muslim. 32.4% of people who listed their ethnicity as 'Other' are also Muslim as are 18.5% of African people.
- 63.1% of Chinese people responded that they have 'no current religion'. The group reporting the lowest level of 'no religion' is Pakistani people (2.8%).
- 12.5% of Other Black people chose not to state their religion as did 10.9% of Caribbean people and 10.3% of Other South Asian people.
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