There was a 22 percent increase in the number of Sikhs living in England and Wales in 2021 as compared to the 2011 census. The Office of National Statistics recently posted the findings of the 2021 census.
The report highlighted 525,865 people in England and Wales identified as Sikh in Census 2021. As per the 2011 census, 430,020 people identified themselves as Sikh. This is an increase of 22.3 percent, which is more than the England and Wales population increase of 6.3 percent.
As per the report, 97,910 people, representing 18.6 percent of the Sikh population, identified as Sikh on the religion and ethnic group questions. This group chose Sikh despite the option of selecting “British Indian” as their ethnicity, according to a report. 1,725 people (0.3 percent) identified as Sikh through only the ethnic question, and 4,26,230 people (81.1 percent) identified as Sikh through the voluntary religion question.
The majority of the Sikh-identifying population resided in England, precisely 521,805 of the entire group. Sikhs made up 0.9 percent of the entire population of England, the ONS report said. In Wales, 4,065 people identified as Sikh, representing 0.1 percent of the country’s population. The percentage of the male and female population that identified as Sikh in both of these countries was similar; 49 percent were male, and 51 percent were female.
The ONS report found that both the male and female population that identified as Sikh had a younger age profile than the England and Wales population. A large percentage of those who identified as Sikh were in the 30 to 50 age bracket.
The report highlighted that homeownership rates were high among people who identified as Sikh. 77.7 percent of Sikh residents of both constituent countries reported owning their home or having a mortgage, loan or shared ownership, compared with 62.7 percent of the countries’ population. Under one in three people reported they were living in multi-family or multi-generational households (29.9 percent), compared with 11. 1 percent of the England and Wales population.
Speaking of wellbeing, 84.9 percent of those who identified as Sikh reported to be in “very good” or “good” health, compared with 82 percent of the England and Wales population. This could be attributed to the younger age profile. However, people over 55 who identified as Sikh were less likely to report their health as “very good” or “good” than the England and Wales population.
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