England and Wales are no longer majority-Christian nations according to the 2021 Census! 🎉
- Christianity dropped from 59.3% to 46.2%
- No religion increased from 25.2% to 37.2%
(Like sexuality and gender, religion is an optional field in the UK census. 6% of respondents did not give an answer.)
The British Social Attitudes Survey has been ahead of the curve on this in their much more detailed surveys, the national Census lagged behind, perhaps because it's on a household basis and because the questions are less complex.
Like, the British Social Attitudes Survey is good at teasing out the differences between people who say they are Christian as a cultural identifier, and those who actually practice it. It also asks people specifics on the nature of their beliefs and the strength of their religiosity. This is something the national Census is not able to do.