What is the total muslim population in the UK as of 2025?
Executive summary
The best available, officially sourced snapshot places the United Kingdom’s Muslim population at roughly 4 million people, based on 2021 census data as compiled and summarized by the Muslim Council of Britain in 2025 (MCB) [1]. Official Office for National Statistics (ONS) returns for England and Wales give a closely matching base figure of 3,868,133 Muslims from census returns (1,960,762 males; 1,907,371 females), with the 4 million figure used to represent the UK total once Scotland and Northern Ireland are included [2] [1].
1. Census baseline and the headline figure
The 4 million figure circulated in 2025 reporting is not a new headcount taken in 2025 but a synthesis of the 2021 census datasets: the MCB’s “British Muslims in Numbers” summary explicitly draws on the 2021 census for England & Wales and Northern Ireland, and uses Scotland’s figures to produce a UK-wide estimate of about 4 million Muslims [1] [3]. The ONS Freedom of Information reply specifies the England and Wales component as 3,868,133 persons who identified as Muslim in 2021 (1,960,762 men; 1,907,371 women), making the residual to reach 4 million attributable to Muslims in Scotland and Northern Ireland counted in their national tallies [2] [1].
2. How the number is constructed and why media repeated “4 million”
Advocacy and analysis groups such as the Muslim Council of Britain packaged the census outputs into a UK-wide headline—4 million Muslims, roughly 6% of the total UK population—which became the shorthand cited across outlets in 2025 [1]. The ONS’s own published FOI breakdown for England and Wales provides the granular male/female totals used in those syntheses, and remaining national statistical agencies supply the Scotland and Northern Ireland components that close the gap to the 4 million UK figure [2] [1]. Reporting often emphasizes the MCB summary because it combines and interprets several datasets into a single, communicable number for policy and public discussion [3].
3. Demographic context that matters to the headline
The 2021 census-based profile underpinning the 4 million figure shows a young Muslim population (median age around 29) concentrated in particular urban areas, with higher proportions in social housing and elevated rates of overcrowding compared to the national average—detail the MCB and Islam Channel summaries highlight while drawing on the same census backbone [4] [1]. Wikipedia’s synthesis of demographic origins and regional concentrations echoes these patterns, noting large Pakistani, Bangladeshi and other origin communities and the geographic clustering in cities such as London, Birmingham and Bradford [5] [6].
4. Limitations, uncertainty and alternative readings
The plain fact is that the headline “4 million” is a census-based snapshot from 2021 interpreted and publicized in 2025; it is not a fresh 2025 headcount and does not account for post-2021 births, deaths, migration or religious change unless later ONS releases revise the totals [1] [2]. Different sources privilege different framings—MCB emphasizes UK aggregation and social impacts, while the ONS FOI gives precise England & Wales counts; independent encyclopedic summaries like Wikipedia add context but are secondary [1] [2] [5]. There is thus no authoritative ONS “2025 census” re-count in the sources provided; any projection beyond the 2021 baseline requires modelling not present in these documents.
5. Bottom line
For reporting and policy discussion in 2025 the defensible, evidence-based statement is that the UK’s Muslim population sits at about 4 million people as represented by the 2021 census aggregation reported by the Muslim Council of Britain, with ONS-provided England and Wales totals of 3,868,133 forming the core of that number [1] [2]. Any claim of a materially different 2025 total would need to be supported by post-2021 ONS population estimates, new surveys, or administrative data not included in the materials reviewed here; absent those, 4 million remains the best, sourced headline.