Published by: Aashi Sadana
Last updated: March 26, 2023, 9:39 PM IST
In this week’s latest issue titled “Religion through Housing, Health, Employment and Education,” the ONS finds that life outcomes for religious groups varied significantly. (Shutterstock/file)
The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) has analyzed census statistics to release information on various subcategories for the country’s population based on responses from the online census conducted in March 2021.
Hindus living in the UK are among the healthiest and most qualified religious groups and Sikhs are the most likely to own their homes, according to the latest census data for England and Wales.
The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) has analyzed census statistics to release information on various subcategories for the country’s population based on responses from the online census conducted in March 2021.
In this week’s latest issue titled “Religion through Housing, Health, Employment and Education,” the ONS finds that life outcomes for religious groups varied significantly.
“In 2021, those who identified as ‘Hindu’ had the highest percentage of their population reporting ‘very good’ or ‘good’ health (87.8 percent), compared to 82.0 percent of the total population,” finds the ONS, adding that the Hindus also reported the “lowest prevalence of disability”.
“People who identified as ‘Hindu’ had the highest percentage of ‘Level 4 or above’ [certificate-level] qualification (54.8 percent), compared to the total population (33.8 percent),” it noted.
“People who identified as ‘Sikh’ were more likely to live in households that owned their homes… 77.7 percent of those who identified as ‘Sikh’ lived in households that owned their homes,” the ONS said.
The religion question is voluntary in the census and in 2021, 94 per cent of the total population in England and Wales of 56 million chose to answer the question.
The ONS said many of the life outcomes discussed in the analysis could be influenced by the different age and gender profiles of religious groups.
“In 2021, people who identified as ‘Muslim’ were almost four times more likely to live in overcrowded homes than the total population of England and Wales,” the statistics show.
“In 2021, people who identified as ‘Muslim’ had the lowest percentage of people aged 16 to 64 in employment (51.4 percent compared to 70.9 percent of the total population); this was due to the high percentages of people who were students or cared for home or family in this group,” it said.
The ONS pointed out that life outcomes for religious groups often overlap, as people in poor health or caring for others may be less able to work or receive an education.
Income, where people live and cultural background also influence the results.
The analysis shows that those who identified as “Christian” had an older age profile and reported poorer health than the overall population.
“People who identified as ‘Christian’ were most likely to live in households that owned their home outright (36 percent), 8.9 percentage points higher than the general population (27.1 percent).
This group had a median (mean) age of 51 years, compared to 40 years for the total population, suggesting they may have had time to pay off a mortgage or loan,” the ONS said.
The 2021 Census Survey has been completed by over 24 million households in England and Wales and data from the survey has since been published in stages by the ONS.
According to a previous publication, people who identified as Christian fell to half of the population for the first time, while those who identified as Hindu, Muslim or Sikh recorded a small increase.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed)