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Fact check: What was the Muslim population in London in the 2011 census?
Executive Summary
The 2011 Census shows that London had roughly 1.01 million Muslims, about 12.4% of its 8.17 million population, a figure reported consistently across the supplied sources and statistical summaries [1] [2] [3]. Secondary summaries place Muslims as the second largest religious group in England and Wales in 2011 with about 2.7 million people nationally, but London’s local share was substantially higher than the national average [4] [3]. This analysis extracts the key claims from the supplied materials, compares them for consistency, highlights small reporting differences in rounding and phrasing, and notes relevant broader context including later 2021 figures cited in the materials to show direction of change [5].
1. Clear claim: London’s Muslim population quantified — how precise is the number?
All supplied sources converge on a single principal claim: the 2011 Census counted about 1.01 million Muslims in London, equal to roughly 12.4% of the capital’s population [1] [2] [3]. Some items report the figure as 1,012,823 specifically [2] [1], while others round to 1,013,000 or state the percentage only [3] [6]. The differences are trivial and reflect common rounding practices in public statistics, but they matter for precision-conscious uses: quoting 1,012,823 communicates the census-derived count, while 1.01 million or 12.4% is suitable for most narrative contexts. The sources uniformly identify London as having the highest metropolitan share of Muslims in England and Wales in 2011 [3].
2. National comparison: London versus England and Wales in 2011
The supplied materials place London’s Muslim proportion well above the England-and-Wales average for 2011, where around 2.7 million Muslims constituted about 4.8–5.0% of that population [4] [3]. This contrast underscores London’s role as a major center of religious diversity: while Muslims formed roughly one in eight Londoners, they were roughly one in twenty nationally in 2011. The documents explicitly label Islam the second largest religion in England and Wales at that census and note London’s status as the region with the highest Muslim proportion [3]. That context is critical: the 1.01 million London figure is not an isolated number but part of a larger national distribution pattern recorded by the 2011 Census.
3. Small discrepancies: rounding, phrasing, and reporting dates
The main inconsistencies among the supplied items are stylistic rather than substantive: some sources give exact counts [7] [8] [9], others round to 1,013,000 or say “about 1.01 million,” and several emphasize the 12.4% share [2] [1] [3] [6]. A few summaries focus on national totals without repeating the London figure [4] [3], which can create the impression of missing data though the London count is present elsewhere. Publication dates cluster around 2012–2013 for census reporting and summary releases, which is standard timing for analysis of 2011 Census outputs [1] [2] [3]. These differences do not indicate conflicting evidence; they reflect normal variation in how statistical outputs are conveyed to different audiences.
4. Forward motion: what later figures supplied here show about trends
One supplied item references the 2021 census, reporting 1,318,755 Muslims in Greater London and a rise to about 15% share [5]. That later figure, although occurring a decade after 2011, aligns with an expected demographic trend of growth in London’s Muslim population and a rising proportional share. The inclusion of the 2021 number in the materials highlights that the 2011 count is a historical baseline rather than a current estimate. Comparing 2011’s ~1.01 million (12.4%) to 2021’s ~1.32 million (15%) indicates substantial absolute and relative increases over the decade, but the supplied items do not provide detailed breakdowns by borough or age structure in 2021 comparable to the 2011 outputs [5] [6].
5. Practical takeaway and reporting caveats for researchers and communicators
For citation or policy work, use the 2011 London Muslim count as 1,012,823 (12.4%) when you need the census-derived precise value, or 1.01 million/12.4% for readable summaries, citing the relevant release [2] [1]. Note that rounding occurs in public-facing documents and that subsequent censuses show growth, so always specify the census year to avoid confusion [5]. Finally, be aware that supplied summaries emphasize London’s high proportion relative to national averages, which is factual but can be used selectively in advocacy or political messaging; the numbers themselves are consistent across the supplied materials and reliable for describing the 2011 situation [3].