Majority of Scots have ‘ no religion’
THE majority of people in Scotland now say they have no religion for the first time.
The latest data from the 2022 census to be released found that 51.1% of people had no religion, up from 36.7% in 2011.
The question is voluntary and was first introduced in 2001, when just 27.5% said they had no religious beliefs.
The largest decrease has been in followers of the Church of
Scotland, with 42.4% identifying as a follower in 2002.
That has dropped to 20.4%, a fall of 610,100 people since 2011, and more than one million since 2001, though Church of Scotland remains the largest group for those who identified as religious.
The next largest religious groups were Roman Catholic ( 13.3%), Other Christian ( 5.1%) and Muslim ( 2.2%).
There was a slight increase followers of Islam between 2011 and 2022, from 1.45% to 2.2%, with Hindu rising from 0.31% to 0.55% and Sikh from 0.17% to 0.20%.
The number of respondents identifying as being of the Jewish faith remained steady at 0.11% while 0.35% said they were Pagan.
Males ( 53.8%) were more likely to have no religion than females ( 48.6%). This was also true in 2011 and 2001.
All age groups saw an increase in people who said they were of no religion, and in the 65+ age group the number with no religion has more than doubled since 2011.
No religion was the most common response in every council area in Scotland except in Na h- Eileanan Siar and Inverclyde, where Church of Scotland ( 35.3%) and Roman Catholic ( 33.4%) were the most common responses respectively.