Since 2002, the proportion of Britons who identify as Church of England has more than halved, falling from 31 per cent to 14 per cent.
The sharpest decline happened among 45 to 54-year-olds – 35 per cent in 2002 compared with eleven per cent in 2017, according to data from the National Centre for Social Research’s (NatCen) British social attitudes survey.
The proportion of people who describe themselves as Roman Catholic (eight per cent) belonging to “other Christian affiliations” (ten per cent) and “of non-Christian faiths” (eight per cent) have remained fairly stable.
Fifty two per cent of people now say they have no religion, compared with 41% in 2002, and men are more inclined to say they follow no religion than women (57 per cent compared with 48 per cent), the survey found.
Seventy per cent of those aged 18-24 say they have no religion – an increase from 56 per cent in 2002, while two per cent of this group view themselves as Anglicans, down from nine per cent in 2002.
The number of Scots who say they belong to the Church of Scotland has fallen overall, from 31 per cent in 2002 to 18 per cent in 2017.
Roger Harding, head of public attitudes at the NatCen, said: “Our figures show an unrelenting decline in Church of England and Church of Scotland numbers.
“This is especially true for young people, where less than one in 20 now belong to their established church.