More people are non-religious in Portsmouth than a decade ago – 2021 census results

Humanists UK ran campaigns in the lead up to the censuses in 2011 and 2021 encouraging non-religious people to select "no religion".

The organisation said the figures should be a "wake-up call" for reconsidering the role religion has in society.

Office for National Statistics data from the 2021 census shows 39% of people in Portsmouth selected Christianity as their religion, down significantly from 52% in the last survey a decade before.

About 47% selected "no religion" – a leap from 35% in 2011. Of these, 153 people said they were agnostic, while 47 selected Atheism.

The area follows trends across England and Wales where 46% of the population described themselves as Christian in the last census, down from 59% a decade earlier.

It is the first time the proportion has dropped below half.

And the percentage of people saying they had no religion jumped from around a quarter (25%) in 2011 to over a third (37%).

The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell said: "It’s not a great surprise that the census shows fewer people in this country identifying as Christian than in the past, but it still throws down a challenge to us not only to trust that God will build his kingdom on Earth but also to play our part in making Christ known."

Nationally, there were increases in the proportion of people describing themselves as Muslim, with 6.5% selecting the religion in 2021, up from 4.9% in the previous census.

More people also identified as Hindu, increasing from 1.5% in 2011 to 1.7% in 2021.

The figures show more people in Portsmouth identified as Muslim, with 10,174 selecting the religion in 2021, up from 7,162 a decade earlier.

Additionally, 1,596 residents said they were Hindu , up from 1,282 10 years ago.

There were 1,077 Buddhists and 200 residents who selected Judaism.

Of the other options, 359 said they were pagans and 22 said they practice Heathenism.

The National Secular Society said the figures show that aspects of society such as the Anglican establishment and daily prayers and worship in parliament and schools, are “all inappropriate, hopelessly outdated and fail to reflect the country we actually live in” and called for reform.

Stephen Evans said, the society's chief executive, said: “It’s official – we are no longer a Christian country.”