Christian population boosted by migrants

THE CHURCHGOING Catholic community has been given a considerable fillip by the influx of Polish immigrants, according to new official figures released this week, writes Joanna Moorhead.

A report by the Office for National Statistics and the Home office says the 2011 census showed that almost half (46 per cent or 3.4 million) of the foreign-born population identified with a white ethnic group, and of these a sizeable minority (528,000) were from Poland. The majority of Polish-born United Kingdom residents – 496,000 – arrived in the UK between 2001 and 2011. Poland joined the European Union in 2004. The census report also shows that of the foreign-born population in England and Wales nearly half identified as Christian (48 per cent) and a fifth identified as Muslim (19 per cent). Only one in seven had no religion (14 per cent). Overall, 27 per cent of native British people in England and Wales said they did not identify with any religion in the 2011 census.