Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Fact check: How does the Muslim population in London compare to other UK cities in 2025?
Executive Summary
London remains one of the UK’s largest Muslim populations but is not uniquely dominant when compared to other urban centres; the 2021 Census and 2025 summaries show roughly 4 million Muslims in the UK (about 6% of the population) with London, Birmingham and Bradford among the cities with the largest Muslim communities [1]. Reports in 2025 highlight rapid growth since 2001, internal diversity, and concentrated deprivation in some areas, while political commentary and misinformation have overstated claims about London’s status without supplying comparative population data [2] [3] [4].
1. Why the numbers matter—growth, scale and recent official tallies
The best-available summaries note that the Muslim population in Great Britain rose from 1.6 million in 2001 to about 4 million in 2021, making Muslims approximately 6% of the UK population; this growth accounted for a large share of the UK’s population increase between 2011 and 2021 [1]. Those figures are the backbone for comparing cities: they show national scale and growth drivers—higher fertility and immigration—rather than proving any single city is the “Muslim capital.” Analysts in 2025 continue to use these census-based baselines when projecting 2021–2025 changes and assessing city-level concentrations [1].
2. City-by-city: London is large but not uniquely overwhelming
Available reporting repeatedly lists London alongside Birmingham and Bradford as cities with the largest Muslim populations, indicating that London is a major centre but not an isolated outlier [1]. The 2025 summaries emphasize that London’s Muslim population is significant in absolute numbers given the city’s size and historic migrant settlement patterns; however, smaller cities and metropolitan districts like Bradford have higher local proportional shares of Muslims relative to their total populations, meaning proportion and absolute counts diverge depending on which metric is cited [1].
3. Diversity within Muslim communities changes the picture
Reports stress that British Muslims are highly diverse: about half are UK-born and communities span multiple ethnicities, origins and socioeconomic statuses, making simple city tallies insufficient to understand lived reality [4]. The 2025 analyses underscore differences in age profiles, employment, and place of birth across cities, meaning two cities with similar Muslim proportions can have very different community dynamics. Emphasizing diversity counters reductive claims that treat “Muslims” as a monolith when comparing London to other cities [4].
4. Geography of deprivation: where Muslims live matters more than totals
Multiple 2025 summaries highlight that 39% of Muslims live in the most deprived areas of England and Wales, concentrating disadvantage in particular places [4]. This spatial concentration affects local services, schooling and housing pressures and can shape public perceptions far more than headline population figures. Comparing London to other cities therefore requires attending to neighbourhood-level poverty, access to services and housing tenure—factors that the census summaries and community reports foreground when assessing relative challenges and needs [4].
5. Political narratives and misinformation have skewed public perception
High-profile claims in 2025—such as assertions about London becoming a “Sharia capital” or that the Mayor was building homes exclusively for Muslims—have circulated widely yet lacked comparative demographic foundations; fact-checks found such claims to be false or unsubstantiated and not backed by census data [2] [3] [5]. These narratives often conflate legal or institutional issues with demographic facts, creating political leverage that changes debate focus from verified population data to cultural or security framings [2] [5].
6. Projections and contested interpretations for 2025 and beyond
Some 2025 commentaries project that Muslims could make up a larger share of the UK population in future censuses, referencing fertility and migration trends and hypothesizing a rise to near 8% in certain analyses [6]. These projections are debated: advocates for Muslim organisations stress integration and demographic normalisation, while critics frame growth as cultural change needing policy responses. The underlying data for such projections derive from the 2021 baseline and 2025 demographic reporting, and they remain sensitive to migration policy shifts and fertility trends [6].
7. What’s missing from public comparisons—and what to watch next
City comparisons often omit place-based indicators such as age structure, socioeconomic status, length of residence and neighbourhood segregation, which limit how much population percentages alone can explain about community needs or influence. Future, more granular releases or local authority datasets would clarify distinctions between absolute populations (London’s larger totals) and relative shares (higher percentages in some northern cities), enabling more precise policy and civic discussion grounded in the 2021–2025 evidence base [1] [4].
8. Bottom line: accurate comparison requires multiple metrics
The factual record in 2025 shows London has one of the largest Muslim populations by number but is not singular when measured by concentration or proportion; Birmingham, Bradford and other cities remain major centres and sometimes show higher local shares, and national summaries emphasise diversity and deprivation patterns that shape outcomes more than simple headcounts [1] [4]. To compare cities responsibly, use both absolute numbers and local rates, plus socioeconomic and age data, and treat political claims about “capitals” with caution given the documented misinformation in 2025 [2] [5].