06/12/2022 - Permalink

Shropshire ethnic groups, national identity, language and religion: 2021 Census information

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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) last month published the next phase of Census 2021 topic summaries for England and Wales looking at ethnic group, national identity, language and religion from national level down to small areas called census output areas.

The Census provides estimates of the characteristics of all people and households in England and Wales on Census Day – 21 March 2021.

It is carried out every 10 years and gives the most accurate estimate of all the people and households in England and Wales.

This release gives information from Census 2021 about:-

  • which ethnic groups people identified with
  • the main language people use
  • how well people, who do not have English as a main language, could speak English
  • how people describe their national identity
  • which religious groups people identified with.

In 2021, 96.7% (312,900) of usual residents in Shropshire identified their ethnic group within the high-level “White” category. This compares to 81% in England. The next most common high-level ethnic group was “Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh” accounting for 1.3% of the overall population, compared to 9.3% for England.

In 2021, 96.4% (311,800) of usual residents in Shropshire identified with at least one UK national identity (English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, British, and Cornish). This compares to 90% in England. In Shropshire, 2.1% of the resident population identified  their national identity as Welsh only, compared with 0.3% for England.

The religion question is voluntary; 94.1% (304,700) of usual residents answered the question in 2021.

For the first time in a census of England, less than half of the population (46.3%, 26.2 million people) described themselves as “Christian”. However, “Christian” remained the most common response to the religion question. In Shropshire, 55.5% of the population described themselves as Christian. “No religion” was the second most common response.

There were increases in the number of people who described themselves as Muslim (1,700 people in 2021), Buddhist (900), Sikh (800), Hindu (600) and Jewish (200).

In 2021, 97.4% (307,100 people) of usual residents, aged three years and over, had English as a main language. The most common main languages, other than English were: Polish (1,400), Bulgarian (1,300) and Romanian (1,000).

Cecilia Motley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for adult social care, public health and communities, said:-

“We welcome every opportunity to find out more about, and to celebrate, the diversity of religions and beliefs in Shropshire, and to find out more about, and work with, the wide range of ethnic communities.

“The results of Census 2021 will allow us to be better informed and therefore better able to meet any differing needs, and minimise inequalities where these occur. It is also timely to add that, as well as working to tackle racism or other forms of discrimination, we seek to foster good relations across groupings of race, religion or belief.

“This of course includes our Welsh neighbours, as it is within our geographical context of cross border travel patterns, for residents, visitors, and businesses, that we develop and deliver services with and for our diverse communities.

“Fostering good relations across groupings will always be intrinsic to our equality aims as a council, and we therefore look forward to making good use of the Census 2021 release data and sharing it with partners and communities.”

 James Walton, Shropshire Council’s executive director for resources, added:-

“The release of this data is very much welcomed, to help us understand the diversity of the Shropshire population and how it is changing. It is important that we can use this data to make sure our policies and services meet the differing needs of a diverse population and to tackle inequality.”

For further information, including an interactive map, and to find out more about the Census 2021 results, people can visit the ONS website.

Further information and analysis for Shropshire will be added to the Shropshire Council 2021 Census webpages, as further results become available. It is important that the results and analysis are widely accessible to all. The council is aiming to publish the early headlines and infographics, followed by the development of area profiles, interactive tools and topic-based analysis.

Please note all figures have been rounded.