---
title: "Scottish census reveals rise in non-religious population"
date: "2013-09-26T13:26:53+01:00"
modified: "2013-09-26T13:26:53+01:00"
url: "https://rationalists.org.uk/2013/09/26/scottish-census-reveals-rise-in-non-religious-population/"
post_id: 5944
categories: ["Uncategorised"]
---

# Scottish census reveals rise in non-religious population

Newly released data from Scotland’s 2011 Census [shows that](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-24282271) 37 per cent of the population say they have “no religion” – an increase of 9 per cent on the 2001 figure.

Against the growth in the number of non-religious Scots, the figure for Christian denominations stands at 54 per cent, down from 65 per cent in 2001. Of those, 32 per cent say they belong to the Church of Scotland (down 10 per cent on 2001), and 16 per cent say they are Roman Catholic (no decline).

Muslims represent 1.4 per cent of the population, and Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs comprise 0.7 per cent. In addition, there are just under 6,000 Jews in Scotland.

On religion, Scotland’s census data is similar to that for England and Wales, which was released at the end of last year. In England and Wales there was a 10 per cent rise in the number saying they had no religion, with the figure standing at 25 per cent. Meanwhile, 59.3 per cent identified as Christian, down from 71.8 per cent in 2001.