2022 Census: Majority of Scots have no religion – BBC News

Just a fifth of people in Scotland (20.4%) now say they identify with the Church of Scotland, which has lost a million followers since the dawn of the 21st century.

The number of Roman Catholics has also fallen, down by more than 117,000 in the past decade to stand at 13.3% of the population.

The number of Muslims increased by 43,100 to 119,872 over the same period, from 1.4% to 2.2% of the population.

Younger people were more likely than older people to say they had no religion but the figure was up across all age groups.

Among over-65s, “no religion” more than doubled between 2011 and 2022, an increase of 186,700 people.

It was the most common response in every council area except Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) and Inverclyde.

In the Western Isles, Church of Scotland (35.3%) was the most common response while in Inverclyde it was Roman Catholic (33.4%).

Other UK countries have also seen an increase in “no religion” but the latest figure for England and Wales (37.2%) is much lower than in Scotland.

The Humanist Society Scotland, which promotes empirical observation as opposed to religious belief, said Scotland had made “significant progress” towards becoming a more tolerant society in terms of its attitudes in areas such as sexuality, abortion and assisted dying.

The Reverend David Cameron, from the Church of Scotland, said the decline in membership numbers had been identified as an area of considerable concern by the church.

He said: “It is sobering, and we know that when the church is measured in this way it can feel hurtful for our members and be a source of anxiety for many.

“But our faith and our relevancy cannot be expressed simply as a set of numbers in a table.”

The latest release of census data also showed an increase in people who said they were from a minority ethnic background.

This century, Scotland’s minority ethnic population has jumped from 4.5% in 2001, to 8.2% in 2011, before reaching 12.9% in 2022.

The definition of “minority ethnic” includes some groups that were in the white category on the census form such as Irish, Polish, Gypsy/Traveller, Roma and Showman/Showwoman.

The census said that the increase in Scotland’s population was driven by an increase in people born outside of Scotland.

Jon Wroth-Smith, National Records of Scotland director of census statistics, said: “Without migration, Scotland’s population would have decreased, and we would have fewer people in younger age groups.”

In other words, Scotland would have more older people in need of support, and fewer working-age people to support them, a challenge sometimes referred to as a demographic time-bomb.

The data are likely to be cited as evidence by those who argue that Scotland needs more immigration to support its economy, especially after Brexit, not less.