Main article: Languages of the United Kingdom
The English-speaking world. Countries in dark blue have a majority of native speakers; countries where English is an official but not a majority language are shaded in light blue. English is one of the official languages of the European Union[360] and the United Nations[361]
The UK's de facto official language is English.[362][363] It is estimated that 95% of the UK's population are monolingual English speakers.[364] 5.5% of the population are estimated to speak languages brought to the UK as a result of relatively recent immigration.[364] South Asian languages, including Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Gujarati, are the largest grouping and are spoken by 2.7% of the UK population.[364] According to the 2011 census, Polish has become the second-largest language spoken in England and has 546,000 speakers.[365]
Four Celtic languages are spoken in the UK: Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Cornish. All are recognised as regional or minority languages, subject to specific measures of protection and promotion under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages[2][366] and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.[367] In the 2001 Census over a fifth (21%) of the population of Wales said they could speak Welsh,[368] an increase from the 1991 Census (18%).[369] In addition it is estimated that about 200,000 Welsh speakers live in England.[370] In the same census in Northern Ireland 167,487 people (10.4%) stated that they had "some knowledge of Irish" (see Irish language in Northern Ireland), almost exclusively in the nationalist (mainly Catholic) population. Over 92,000 people in Scotland (just under 2% of the population) had some Gaelic language ability, including 72% of those living in the Outer Hebrides.[371] The number of schoolchildren being taught through Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish is increasing.[372] Among emigrant-descended populations some Scottish Gaelic is still spoken in Canada (principally Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island),[373] and Welsh in Patagonia, Argentina.[374]
Scots, a language descended from early northern Middle English, has limited recognition alongside its regional variant, Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland, without specific commitments to protection and promotion.[2][375]
It is compulsory for pupils to study a second language up to the age of 14 in England,[376] and up to age 16 in Scotland. French and German are the two most commonly taught second languages in England and Scotland. All pupils in Wales are taught Welsh as a second language up to age 16, or are taught in Welsh.[377]
Religion
Main article: Religion in the United Kingdom
Westminster Abbey is used for the coronation of British monarchs
Forms of Christianity have dominated religious life in what is now the United Kingdom for over 1,400 years.[378] Although a majority of citizens still identify with Christianity in many surveys, regular church attendance has fallen dramatically since the middle of the 20th century,[379] while immigration and demographic change have contributed to the growth of other faiths, most notably Islam.[380] This has led some commentators to variously describe the UK as a multi-faith,[381] secularised,[382] or post-Christian society.[383]
In the 2001 census 71.6% of all respondents indicated that they were Christians, with the next largest faiths (by number of adherents) being Islam (2.8%), Hinduism (1.0%), Sikhism (0.6%), Judaism (0.5%), Buddhism (0.3%) and all other religions (0.3%).[384] 15% of respondents stated that they had no religion, with a further 7% not stating a religious preference.[385] A Tearfund survey in 2007 showed only one in ten Britons actually attend church weekly.[386] Between the 2001 and 2011 census there was a decrease in the amount of people who identified as Christian by 12%, whilst the percentage of those reporting no religious affiliation doubled. This contrasted with growth in the other main religious group categories, with the number of Muslims increasing by the most substantial margin to a total of about 5%.[387] The Muslim population has increased from 1.6 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2011,[388] making it the second-largest religion group in the United Kingdom.[389]
In a 2015 survey conducted by BSA (British Social Attitudes) on religious affiliation; 49% of respondents indicated 'no religion', while 42% indicated they were Christians, followed by 8% who affiliated with other religions (e.g. Islam, Hinduism, Judaism etc.).[390] Among Christians, adherents to the Church of England constituted 17%, Roman Catholic Church - 8%, other Christians (including Presbyterians, Methodists and other Protestants, as well as Eastern Orthodox) - 17%. Amid other religions, Islam accounted for 5%.[391][392]
The Church of England is the established church in England.[393] It retains a representation in the UK Parliament and the British monarch is its Supreme Governor.[394] In Scotland the Presbyterian Church of Scotland is recognised as the national church. It is not subject to state control, and the British monarch is an ordinary member, required to swear an oath to "maintain and preserve the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government" upon his or her accession.[395][396] The (Anglican) Church in Wales was disestablished in 1920 and, as the (Anglican) Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1870 before the partition of Ireland, there is no established church in Northern Ireland.[397] Although there are no UK-wide data in the 2001 census on adherence to individual Christian denominations, it has been estimated that 62% of Christians are Anglican, 13.5% Catholic, 6% Presbyterian, 3.4% Methodist with small numbers of other Protestant denominations such as Open Brethren, and Orthodox churches.[398]
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