Mnemonic: religion
Applicability: Person
Type: Standard variable
Definition
The religion people connect or identify with (their religious affiliation), whether or not they practise or have belief in it.
This question was voluntary and the variable includes people who answered the question, including "No Religion", alongside those who chose not to answer this question.
This variable classifies responses into the eight tick-box response options. Write-in responses are classified by their "parent" religious affiliation, including "No Religion", where applicable.
Classification
Total number of categories: 58
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | Christian |
| 2 | Buddhist |
| 3 | Hindu |
| 4 | Jewish |
| 5 | Muslim |
| 6 | Sikh |
| 7 | Other religion: Alevi |
| 8 | No religion: Agnostic |
| 9 | No religion: Atheist |
| 10 | No religion: Free Thinker |
| 11 | No religion: Humanist |
| 12 | No religion: No religion |
| 13 | No religion: Realist |
| 14 | Other religion: Animism |
| 15 | Other religion: Baha'i |
| 16 | Other religion: Believe in God |
| 17 | Other religion: Brahma Kumari |
| 18 | Other religion: Chinese Religion |
| 19 | Other religion: Church of All Religion |
| 20 | Other religion: Confucianist |
| 21 | Other religion: Deist |
| 22 | Other religion: Druid |
| 23 | Other religion: Druze |
| 24 | Other religion: Eckankar |
| 25 | Other religion: Heathen |
| 26 | Other religion: Jain |
| 27 | Other religion: Mixed Religion |
| 28 | Other religion: Mysticism |
| 29 | Other religion: Native American Church |
| 30 | Other religion: New Age |
| 31 | Other religion: Occult |
| 32 | Other religion: Other religions |
| 33 | Other religion: Own Belief System |
| 34 | Other religion: Pagan |
| 35 | Other religion: Pantheism |
| 36 | Other religion: Rastafarian |
| 37 | Other religion: Ravidassia |
| 38 | Other religion: Reconstructionist |
| 39 | Other religion: Satanism |
| 40 | Other religion: Scientology |
| 41 | Other religion: Shamanism |
| 42 | Other religion: Shintoism |
| 43 | Other religion: Spiritual |
| 44 | Other religion: Spiritualist |
| 45 | Other religion: Taoist |
| 46 | Other religion: Theism |
| 47 | Other religion: Thelemite |
| 48 | Other religion: Traditional African Religion |
| 49 | Other religion: Unification Church |
| 50 | Other religion: Universalist |
| 51 | Other religion: Valmiki |
| 52 | Other religion: Vodun |
| 53 | Other religion: Wicca |
| 54 | Other religion: Witchcraft |
| 55 | Other religion: Yazidi |
| 56 | Other religion: Zoroastrian |
| 57 | Not answered |
| -8 | Does not apply* |
*Students and schoolchildren living away during term-time.
View all religion (detailed) classifications.
Quality information
There are some quality issues in the data that may affect how you use the data.
Question asked
What is your religion?
- No religion
- Christian (including Church of England, Catholic, Protestant and all other Christian denominations)
- Buddhist
- Hindu
- Jewish
- Muslim
- Sikh
- Any other religion, write in
The question and options that people could choose from were the same in Census 2021 and the 2011 Census.
Background
Read about how we developed and tested the questions for Census 2021.
Why we ask the question
The answer helps communities by allowing local and central government to better plan services and set aside resources for their area.
The NHS and local authorities can use this information to help plan and monitor services for local people from a wide range of religious backgrounds. This could include policies on hospital chaplains and public information.
The answer will help public bodies to treat everyone fairly, in line with their legal duties about equality, and to identify discrimination or social exclusion based on religion and work to stop it from happening.
The census first asked this question in 2001.
Comparability with the 2011 Census
Broadly comparable
We have added the categories Other religion: Alevi, Other religion: Valmiki and Other religion: Yazidi to this derived variable.
The two categories No religion: Jedi Knight and No religion: Heavy Metal have been included in the parent No religion category.
What does broadly comparable mean?
A variable that is broadly comparable means that it can be generally compared with the same variable used in the 2011 Census. However, changes may have been made to the question or options that people could choose from or how write-in answers are classified.
England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland comparisons
Not comparable
This variable is not comparable as the data is not available for all countries.
What does not comparable mean?
A variable that is not comparable means that it cannot be compared for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Find out more about variables produced for Census 2021 in Northern Ireland and Census 2022 in Scotland.
Census 2021 data that uses this variable
We use variables from Census 2021 data to show findings in different ways.
You can: