2001 Census: Religion

Summary Table:

This table gives information about the percentage of the population that occupies each religion. This Census question was voluntary; people that did not answer the question were put into the ‘Religion not stated’ group. All people are included in this table.

	All People	Christian	Buddhist	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh	Other religions	No religion	Not stated
Basingstoke & Deane	152,573	74.02	0.16	0.45	0.12	0.51	0.22	0.33	16.98	7.22
East Hampshire	109,274	77.03	0.21	0.13	0.16	0.25	0.03	0.34	15.36	6.5
Eastleigh	116,169	76.67	0.17	0.34	0.07	0.31	0.5	0.29	15.23	6.43
Fareham	107,977	77.96	0.14	0.15	0.08	0.35	0.06	0.45	14.19	6.61
Gosport	76,415	75.33	0.15	0.13	0.04	0.31	0.03	0.33	16.59	7.07
Hart	83,505	77.17	0.21	0.3	0.13	0.37	0.12	0.27	15.06	6.38
Havant	116,849	73.58	0.14	0.14	0.09	0.25	0.06	0.29	17.44	8.01
New Forest	169,331	78.31	0.12	0.08	0.11	0.17	0.03	0.31	13.96	6.91
Rushmoor	90,987	73.03	0.39	0.62	0.07	0.74	0.1	0.33	16.78	7.95
Test Valley	109,801	78.11	0.14	0.23	0.11	0.32	0.25	0.3	14.2	6.35
Winchester	107,222	76.16	0.24	0.24	0.17	0.36	0.07	0.35	15.91	6.51
Portsmouth	186,701	68.07	0.4	0.44	0.13	2.15	0.17	0.39	19.95	8.31
Southampton	217,445	65.55	0.33	0.71	0.13	1.92	1.29	0.44	21.62	8.01
Hampshire	1,240,103	76.19	0.18	0.25	0.11	0.35	0.14	0.33	15.55	6.91
Hampshire (Including Portsmouth and Southampton)	1,644,249	73.86	0.22	0.33	0.11	0.76	0.29	0.35	16.86	7.22

Commentary:

Hampshire County

The 2001 Census asked a (voluntary) question on religion for the first time.

76.2 per cent of Hampshire residents stated they were Christian. 15.6 per cent said they had no religion, and a further 6.9 per cent chose not to answer the question at all or gave an invalid response (e.g. Jedi Knight).

In England and Wales as a whole, 71.8 per cent of the population stated they were Christian, 14.8 per cent said they had no religion, and 7.7 per cent chose not to respond or gave an invalid response.

Only 1.3 per cent of Hampshire residents belonged to other recognised religions in 2001. The largest group was Muslims, accounting for 0.35 per cent of Hampshire residents, followed by Hindus at 0.25 per cent.

3 per cent of residents in England and Wales were Muslim, 1.1 per cent Hindu, 0.6 per cent Sikh, 0.5 per cent Jewish and 0.3 per cent Buddhist.

The New Forest and Test Valley had the largest percentages of their population reporting their religion as Christian, with 78.3 per cent and 78.1 per cent respectively. The smallest percentages were in Rushmoor (73 per cent) and Havant (73.5 per cent). A high of 17.4 per cent of people in Havant said they had no religion and a further 8 per cent did not state a religion. No other religions in Hampshire districts contained more than 1 per cent of the population, the largest other religion was Hindu in Rushmoor, containing 0.62 per cent of the population.

Portsmouth and Southampton

The minority religions were more prominent in the two cities. 2.2 per cent of Portsmouth residents, and 2 per cent of Southampton residents were Muslim in 2001 (compared to 3 per cent in England and Wales), and 1.3 per cent of Southampton residents were Sikh, a higher proportion than the national average of 0.6 per cent.