Crossing the halfway point in this look at the 2021 census, things move to a category that revealed some of the more dramatic changes: religion (or lack of).
A reminder of the ground rules:
- The figures will be counted at council level (the 22 unitary authorities). There are probably more interesting results at a local level/ward level, but that’s not for me to do. You can look these up yourselves using the ONS’s interactive map.
- Percentages are rounded to the nearest decimal place and changes are percentage point increases or decreases (unless stated otherwise).
- 2021 will be compared to both the 2011 and 2001 censuses unless comparable figures are unavailable (i.e. things were counted differently in 2021 compared to previous years) or I couldn’t find the data for whatever reason. In some instances, there won’t be a comparison because it’s a new category.
- Any conclusions are educated guesses rather than hard/academically rigorous ones.
What’s the overall national picture?
The proportion of people giving an “Other” religion or not stating their religion has fallen to 6.8% since 2001 (-1.4%), with the decline accelerating (-1.2%) since 2011.
In 2021 there were around 12,300 Hindus, 10,000 Buddhists, 4,000 Sikhs and just over 2,000 Jews resident in Wales.
Just under 16,000 people gave a religion other than those. The most common examples of which that recorded by the ONS in Wales include: Pagans (covering Heathens, Wiccans, Druids), Spiritualists, Agnostics, Baha’i, and Satanists.
What are the standout findings for individual councils?
As you would probably expect, a vast number of people who gave a minority religion live in Cardiff. It’s the only local authority left in Wales with a significant Jewish population and is home to around half of Wales’ Hindus and Sikhs.
The largest proportion of followers of other/not stated religions live in Ceredigion (8.6%) – probably a distortion caused by the low total population, overseas students at the universities and the relatively high number of people who gave “religion not stated”.
What may be the reasons behind the changes (if applicable)?
They haven’t changed all that much. Similarly to Muslims, you would expect areas with a large number of people belonging to minority faiths to self-perpetuate.
Are there any public policy implications?
Not really. It stresses the importance of learning about faiths other than Christianity and Islam as well as – in the case of Judaism – the Holocaust.
Also, I’ve always found those image macros Welsh political parties put out on Twitter marking every religious holiday under the sun to be a bit forced. It’s unlikely anyone who would appreciate them will see them.
Jewish holidays almost always get marked, yet I’ve never seen anything for Buddhists – even though there are five times more Buddhists in Wales than Jews. Nothing for the few thousand Pagans and Heathens either.
Why isn’t there a Plaid Cymru macro ready to go for Samhain/Calan Gaeaf? Why aren’t Welsh Labour offering livestock each year to Odin?
