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Religion

  • Mnemonic reference

    RELIGION_CAT_P

  • Applicability

    Person

  • Type

    Derived Variable

Definition

This is a person’s current religious denomination or body that they belong to, or if the person does not have a religion, ‘No Religion’. No determination is made about whether a person was a practising member of a religion. 

Religion is a voluntary question and 6.2% of the population did not provide a response. Please be aware that when we state percentages these are out of the whole population, not just those that provided a response. Our approach to imputation is also different for voluntary questions. Not stating a religion is considered to be a valid response, so we do not impute a religion for those who responded to the census but did not answer the religion question. However, we do impute religion for those who did not respond at all to the census. 'Not stated’ is one of the values that can be imputed for religion. More information on our edit and imputation method is available on the Scotland’s Census website.

Classification

Total number of categories 13

Code Name
1 No Religion
2 Church of Scotland
3 Roman Catholic
4 Other Christian
5 Buddhist
6 Hindu
7 Jewish
8 Muslim
9 Sikh
10 Pagan
11 Other Religion
12 Not Stated
-5 No code required - comprises schoolchildren and full-time students living away from home during term time.

Source question or variables

Question 21 - What religion, religious denomination or
body do you belong to? 

  • None
  • Church of Scotland
  • Roman Catholic
  • Other Christian, please write in below:
  • Muslim, write in denomination or school below:
  • Hindu
  • Buddhist
  • Sikh
  • Jewish
  • Pagan
  • Another religion or body, please write in

Reason for asking

Data on religion is widely used for equality monitoring, to identify particular religious groups and to better understand their needs and characteristics, for planning of services and for research and by special interest groups.

England & Wales and Scotland (2011) Comparisons

The religion question asked in Scotland's Census 2022 was similar to that asked in 2011, with an additional response option added for "Pagan".

The question asked in England & Wales in 2022 was similar, however the response options were simplified. The England & Wales question asked:

"What is your Religion?

  • No Religion
  • Christian (including Church of England, Catholic, Protestant, and all other Christian denominations)
  • Buddhist
  • Hindu
  • Jewish
  • Muslim
  • Sikh
  • Any other religion, write in"