Non-religion is the new normal: six in ten under-35s have no religion, new analysis finds

Six in ten people aged 16 to 34 identify with no religion, according to new analysis of the gold-standard British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey, published today by Humanists UK — and once young people grow up without religion, research shows they almost never acquire one.

The new analysis, based on the most recent BSA religion data, finds that 61% of 16 to 34-year-olds identify with no religion. Under 3% identify as Church of England or Anglican — compared to 21% of those aged 70 and over. The findings come days after the Bible Society was forced to retract its widely-reported Quiet Revival report, after polling company YouGov identified fraudulent responses in the data on which it was based.

Non-religion is here to stay

Among people aged 16 to 34 who were raised as non-religious, 94% still identify with no religion as adults. Just 4% have adopted any form of Christianity. The data shows that non-religious identity is not a phase young people pass through — it is a settled and stable worldview.

Across all age groups, 49% of the UK population now identifies with no religion — nearly half the country. Among those currently non-religious, half were raised that way, while the other half grew up in religious households, predominantly Christian ones.

The collapse of Anglican identity

The data reveals the near-total collapse of Church of England identity among younger generations. While 21% of over-75s identify as Anglican, that figure falls to just 2.6% among 16 to 34-year-olds. Across all respondents, only 10.7% now identify as Church of England — down from figures that once placed it as the majority faith tradition in Britain.

Janet Ellis, President of Humanists UK, said:

‘These figures reflect something I see and hear all around me. So many people — especially younger people — are living thoughtful, values-driven lives without any religious framework at all, and doing so with confidence and joy. For young people, labelling them just as “nones” or “no religion” can be misleading because it implies an absence. But what they actually have is a positive way of being in the world: looking for evidence to know what’s true, and looking to friendships, hobbies, and relationships to give life meaning. 

‘The data confirms what many of us already know: for a growing majority of people in Britain, humanism — the idea that we can live well and do good without gods — is simply how life is lived.’

Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of Humanists UK, said:

‘The retraction of the Bible Society’s Quiet Revival report was welcome but it should not distract from the more fundamental point: the data was always implausible, because it contradicted decades of rigorous survey evidence, and even the Anglican and Catholic churches’ own attendance data. 

‘The British Social Attitudes survey is the gold standard for a reason. It shows, clearly and consistently, that Britain has become a majority non-religious country, that younger generations are leading that change, and that there is no evidence of any reversal. It is time for our public institutions, from Parliament to our schools, to catch up with the reality of who the British people actually are.’

Emeritus Professor of Social Science at University College London, David Voas, said: 

‘Four decades of high-quality data from the British Social Attitudes survey show us that each generation is less religious than the one before. The dominant trend is “quiet quitting”, not “quiet revival”: many children of Christian parents continue to drift away from religion, and they aren’t coming back to church.’

Dr Lois Lee, Senior Researcher in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kent, emphasised that the young people being less religious did not indicate they were less interested in meaning.

She said that a broader conception of ‘worldview literacy’ was needed to account for how this growing segment find and make meaning. 

Senior Researcher in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kent, Dr Lois Lee, commented:

‘Young people today are the most non-religious Britons on record and the numbers continue to grow. But this isn’t just a story of decline. We know that non-religious people still have meaning systems that matter to them deeply. 

‘These findings underscore the need for public language and policy frameworks that reflect these changes much more effectively. Could we be expanding religious literacy initiatives for example to include worldview literacy more broadly? Creativity and inclusivity are called for.’

Reliability of data

The British Attitudes Survey is typically understood as more reliable because it uses random probability sampling, strong fieldwork, and consistent long-term methods, whereas the Bible Society’s now-retracted report relied on an opt-in online panel adjusted by weighting and modelling.

Furthermore, this data conforms rather than contradicts other objective records. The most recent records from the Anglican and Catholic churches’ own attendance data show long-term decline.