Which London boroughs have the highest percentage of Muslim residents according to the 2021 census?

1. Highest shares: Tower Hamlets and Newham dominate the list

The most widely reported borough-level figures from 2021 show Tower Hamlets with the highest proportion of residents identifying as Muslim — about 39.9% — followed closely by Newham at about 34.8%; both boroughs also appear among the largest single-borough Muslim populations in raw numbers (Tower Hamlets 123,912; Newham 122,146) ^{[1] [2]}. Multiple summaries and census analyses repeat these two boroughs as the top concentrations of Muslim identity in London ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Where else has elevated Muslim shares? East and north London clusters

Beyond Tower Hamlets and Newham, east London boroughs — including Redbridge and Waltham Forest — and parts of north-west and north London such as Brent, Enfield and Haringey show higher-than-average Muslim populations, reflecting historical migration patterns from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and later arrivals from the Middle East and Horn of Africa ^{[4] [1] [5]}. Sources emphasize east London in particular as the area of greatest concentration ^{[4] [5]}.

3. Raw counts vs. percentages: big cities and boroughs differ

National analyses highlight that Tower Hamlets and Newham rank very highly both by percentage and by absolute numbers within London, while at the England & Wales level Birmingham and Bradford have larger Muslim populations overall ^[2]. The Muslim Council of Britain lists Tower Hamlets and Newham among the top local authority areas for Muslim population counts in 2021, alongside cities outside London such as Birmingham and Manchester ^[2].

4. The bigger picture: London’s Muslim population and geographic spread

Census outputs put Greater London’s Muslim population at about 1,318,755 — roughly 15% of Londoners — underlining both concentration in particular boroughs and wider dispersion across the city ^{[3] [1]}. Reporting notes that settlement patterns reflect past waves of migration, chain migration into affordable housing and job hubs, and community networks that reinforce borough-level clusters ^[1].

5. Competing presentations and limitations in the sources

Different secondary summaries vary slightly in which boroughs they highlight after the top two: some name Waltham Forest and Redbridge prominently, others put more emphasis on Brent, Enfield or Haringey ^{[5] [4] [1]}. The material provided here is drawn from published summaries and encyclopedic pages rather than the raw ONS tables; these summaries agree on the top two boroughs but show variation in the tail of the ranking ^{[1] [5] [4]}.

6. What the available sources do not mention

Available sources do not mention a full, ordered borough-by-borough ranked list from the ONS within these excerpts, nor do they provide the complete percentage figures for every London borough in 2021 in the provided snippets; for a definitive ranked table you would need to consult the ONS borough-level religion tables directly (“not found in current reporting” in these excerpts) ^{[1] [3]}.

7. Why these data matter for policy and politics

High percentages in boroughs such as Tower Hamlets and Newham matter for local service planning, representation on councils, mosque provision and community engagement; analysts cited in summaries link these concentrations to socioeconomic factors including deprivation and employment patterns ^{[1] [2]}. Different sources — community organisations like the Muslim Council of Britain and encyclopedic summaries — may foreground different implications, so readers should note institutional perspectives when interpreting the figures ^{[2] [1]}.

If you want a borough-by-borough ranked table of Muslim percentage from the 2021 census, consult the Office for National Statistics religion tables; the summaries here confirm Tower Hamlets (~39.9%) and Newham (~34.8%) as the top boroughs and Greater London’s Muslim population at about 1,318,755 ^{[1] [2] [3]}.