As of the 2022 census, "No religion" was the largest religion category in Scotland. It was selected by 51.1% of the population, an increase from 36.7% in the 2011 census. The census religion question asks what religion, religious denomination or body a person belongs to, and does not measure whether they are a practising member of that religion.
Christianity accounted for 38.8% of the population in the 2022 census. The largest Christian group was the Church of Scotland, at 20.4% of the population, followed by the Roman Catholic Church at 13.3% and other Christian groups at 5.1%.
The Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian denomination also known as the Kirk, is recognised as Scotland's national church. It is not state-controlled, and its constitution states that it is free from civil interference in matters of doctrine, worship, government and discipline. Roman Catholic affiliation is particularly concentrated in parts of west-central Scotland, including Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire.
Non-Christian religions have grown alongside Scotland's increasing ethnic diversity and migration. The 2022 census reported that 12.9% of people in Scotland had a minority ethnic background, up from 8.2% in 2011, and that the proportion of people born outside the UK had increased from 7.0% to 10.2%. National Records of Scotland also noted that an increasing share of births in Scotland were to mothers born outside the UK.
The largest non-Christian religion in the 2022 census was Islam, with 119,872 people, or 2.2% of the population, up from 76,737 people, or 1.4%, in 2011. Other non-Christian religions recorded in the census included Hinduism, with 29,929 people, or 0.6%; Buddhism, with 15,501 people, or 0.3%; Sikhism, with 10,988 people, or 0.2%; and Judaism, with 5,847 people, or 0.1%. Paganism, which was added as a response option in the 2022 census, was recorded by 19,113 people, or 0.4% of the population.
The Scottish Household Survey recorded a continuing decline in religious belonging. In 2019, 56% of adults said that they did not belong to any religion, while the proportion belonging to the Church of Scotland had fallen from 34% in 2009 to 20% in 2019.
Humanist marriage ceremonies have become a significant part of religious and belief marriage practice in Scotland. In 2024, National Records of Scotland recorded 8,142 humanist marriage ceremonies, compared with 1,252 Church of Scotland ceremonies and 647 Roman Catholic ceremonies.
Census statistics The statistics from the 2022, 2011 and 2001 censuses are set out below.
Current religion20012011.2022 Alternative URL 'Search data by location' > 'All of Scotland' > 'Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion' > 'Religion'Number%Number%Number%Christianity3,294,54565.12,850,19953.82,110,40538.8–Church of Scotland2,146,25142.41,717,87132.41,107,79620.4–Catholic803,73215.9841,05315.9723,32213.3–Other Christian344,5626.8291,2755.5279,2875.1Islam42,5570.876,7371.4119,8722.2Hinduism5,5640.116,3790.329,9290.6Buddhism6,8300.112,7950.215,5010.3Sikhism6,5720.19,0550.210,9880.2Judaism6,4480.15,8870.15,8470.1Paganism––––19,1130.4Other religion26,9740.515,1960.312,4250.2No religion1,394,46027.61,941,11636.72,780,90051.1Religion not stated278,0615.5368,0397.0334,8626.2Total population5,062,011100.05,295,403100.05,439,842100.0
History
Christianity was probably introduced to what is now southern Scotland during the Roman occupation of Britain.L. Alcock, Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550–850 (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland), , p. 63.Lucas Quensel von Kalben, "The British Church and the Emergence of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom", in T. Dickinson and D. Griffiths, eds, Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, 10: Papers for the 47th Sachsensymposium, York, September 1996 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), , p. 93. It was mainly spread by missionaries from Ireland from the 5th century and is associated with St Ninian, St Kentigern, and St Columba.R. A. Fletcher, The Barbarian Conversion: from Paganism to Christianity, (Berkeley CA: University of California Press, 1999), , pp. 79–80. The Christianity that developed in Ireland and Scotland differed from that led by Rome, particularly over the method of calculating Easter and the form of tonsure, until the Celtic church accepted Roman practices in the mid-7th century.B. Webster, Medieval Scotland: the Making of an Identity (New York City, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1997), , pp. 53–4. Christianity in Scotland was strongly influenced by monasticism, with abbots being more significant than bishops.A. Macquarrie, Medieval Scotland: Kinship and Nation (Thrupp: Sutton, 2004), , pp. 117–128. In the Norman period, there were a series of reforms resulting in a clearer parochial structure based around local churches; and large numbers of new monastic foundations, which followed continental forms of reformed monasticism, began to predominate. The Scottish church also established its independence from England, developing a clear diocesan structure and becoming a "special daughter of the see of Rome" but continued to lack Scottish leadership in the form of archbishops.P. J. Bawcutt and J. H. Williams, A Companion to Medieval Scottish Poetry (Woodbridge: Brewer, 2006), , pp. 26–9. In the late Middle Ages the Crown was able to gain greater influence over senior appointments, and two archbishoprics had been established by the end of the 15th century.J. Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), , pp. 76–87. There was a decline in traditional monastic life but the mendicant orders of friars grew, particularly in the expanding burghs.Andrew D. M. Barrell, Medieval Scotland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), , p. 246. New saints and cults of devotion also proliferated.C. Peters, Women in Early Modern Britain, 1450–1640 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), , p. 147. Despite problems over the number and quality of clergy after the Black Death in the 14th century, and evidence of heresy in the 15th century, the Church in Scotland remained stable.Andrew D. M. Barrell, Medieval Scotland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), , p. 257.
During the 16th century, Scotland underwent a Protestant Reformation that created a predominantly Calvinist national kirk, which was strongly Presbyterian in outlook. A confession of faith, rejecting papal jurisdiction and the mass, was adopted by Parliament in 1560.J. Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), , pp. 120–1. The kirk found it difficult to penetrate the Highlands and Islands, but began a gradual process of conversion and consolidation that, compared with reformations elsewhere, was conducted with relatively little persecution.J. Wormald, Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), , pp. 121–33. James VI of Scotland favoured doctrinal Calvinism but supported the bishops.R. Mitchison, A History of Scotland (London: Routledge, 3rd edn., 2002), , pp. 166–8. Charles I of England brought in reforms seen by some as a return to papal practice. The result was the Bishop's Wars in 1639–40, ending in virtual independence for Scotland and the establishment of a fully Presbyterian system by the dominant Covenanters.J. D. Mackie, B. Lenman and G. Parker, A History of Scotland (London: Penguin, 1991), , pp. 205–6. After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, Scotland regained its kirk, but also the bishops.J. D. Mackie, B. Lenman and G. Parker, A History of Scotland (London: Penguin, 1991), , pp. 231–4. Particularly in the south-west many of the people began to attend illegal field conventicles. Suppression of these assemblies in the 1680s was known as "the Killing Time". After the "Glorious Revolution" in 1688, Presbyterianism was restored.J. D. Mackie, B. Lenman and G. Parker, A History of Scotland (London: Penguin, 1991), , p. 241.
The Church of Scotland had been created in the Reformation. Then the late 18th century saw the beginnings of its fragmentation around issues of government and patronage, but also reflecting a wider division between the Evangelicals and the Moderate Party.J. T. Koch, Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia, Volumes 1–5 (London: ABC-CLIO, 2006), , pp. 416–7. In 1733 the First Secession led to the creation of a series of secessionist churches, and the second in 1761 to the foundation of the independent Relief Church. These churches gained strength in the Evangelical Revival of the later 18th century.G. M. Ditchfield, The Evangelical Revival (1998), p. 91. Penetration of the Highlands and Islands remained limited. The efforts of the Kirk were supplemented by missionaries of the SSPCK, the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge.G. Robb, "Popular Religion and the Christianisation of the Scottish Highlands in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries", Journal of Religious History, 1990, 16(1), pp. 18–34. Episcopalianism retained supporters, but declined because of its associations with Jacobitism. Beginning in 1834 the "Ten Years' Conflict" ended in a schism from the church, led by Dr Thomas Chalmers, known as the Great Disruption of 1843. Roughly a third of the clergy, mainly from the North and Highlands, formed the separate Free Church of Scotland. The evangelical Free Churches grew rapidly in the Highlands and Islands. In the late 19th century, major debates, between fundamentalist Calvinists and theological liberals, resulted in a further split in the Free Church as the rigid Calvinists broke away to form the Free Presbyterian Church in 1893.
From this point there were moves towards reunion, and most of the Free Church rejoined the Church of Scotland in 1929. The schisms left small denominations including the Free Presbyterians and a remnant that had not merged in 1900 as the Free Church. Catholic Emancipation in 1829 and the influx of large numbers of Irish immigrants led to an expansion of Catholicism, with the restoration of the Church hierarchy in 1878. Episcopalianism also revived in the 19th century; the Episcopal Church in Scotland was organised as an autonomous body in communion with the Church of England in 1804. Other denominations included Baptists, Congregationalists, and Methodists. In the twentieth century, existing Christian denominations were joined by the Brethren and Pentecostal churches. Although some denominations thrived, after World War II there was a steady overall decline in church attendance and resulting church closures in most denominations.
Christianity Protestantism Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)
The British Parliament passed the Church of Scotland Act 1921, recognising the full independence of the church in matters spiritual, and as a result of this and passage of the Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act, 1925, which settled the issue of patronage in the church, the Church of Scotland was able to unite with the United Free Church of Scotland in 1929. The United Free Church of Scotland was itself the product of the union of the former United Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the majority of the Free Church of Scotland in 1900. The 1921 Act recognised the kirk as the national church and the monarch became an ordinary member of the Church of Scotland, represented at the General Assembly by their Lord High Commissioner.