Results from the 2011 Census in Scotland show that Scotland is becoming more ethnically and religiously diverse, with an increasing number of people living in Scotland being born outside of the UK.
From the Census, almost 3,000,000 self-identified with a faith community, down from almost 3,400,000 in 2001. Those who stated no religion rose by over 530,000 from 2001, whilst those who did not state a religion rose by almost 90,000.
Over half (54 per cent) of the population of Scotland stated their religion as Christian whilst 37 per cent of people stated that they had no religion – an increase of nine percentage points since 2001. Those who identified as Christian saw a decrease of about 11 per cent whilst most other religions either remained the same or experienced a small percentage increase.
The Scottish Government Equality Unit has been working in partnership with key religious and belief bodies including Interfaith Scotland, the Edinburgh Interfaith Association, Interfaith Glasgow, Just Festival, Faith in Community Scotland, Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC), and Holocaust Memorial Day Trust to promote and support the development of inter faith relations in Scotland.
