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Which UK regions and cities have the highest proportions of Muslim residents in 2025?
Executive summary
The best available 2025 summary of census material from the Muslim Council of Britain estimates there are about 4 million Muslims in Britain and reports Muslim shares of the population by nation: England ~6.7%, Scotland ~2.2%, Wales ~2.2% and Northern Ireland ~0.6% (MCB census summary) [1] [2]. Detailed local-authority and city-level rankings are not fully reproduced in the supplied files; national figures and repeated references to urban concentrations (London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford, Oldham, Newham) are what the available reporting highlights [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. Where most UK Muslims live: big cities and a national breakdown
The Muslim Council of Britain’s 2025 census summary places roughly 4 million Muslims in Britain and gives the highest-level split by country: England has the largest share (about 6.7% Muslim), while Scotland and Wales are around 2.2% and Northern Ireland about 0.6% [1] [2]. Multiple sources say the community is concentrated in major urban centres — Greater London, Birmingham and Manchester in particular — and other towns such as Bradford and Oldham are repeatedly named as having comparatively high local shares [3] [4].
2. City and local-authority “hotspots” named in reporting — what the sources specify
Reports and summaries in the supplied material single out Greater London and specific boroughs (for example East London/Newham is repeatedly mentioned as having high proportional Muslim populations), along with Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford and Oldham as places with notably large Muslim communities relative to their size [3] [4] [1]. The Muslim Council of Britain emphasises urban concentration and social indicators (for example many Muslims live in areas with high unemployment), but the MCB summary does not present a ranked table of every city’s Muslim percentage in the documents provided here [2].
3. What official statistics and secondary sources do and don’t show
Statista and other secondary summaries point out that the Muslim population is unevenly distributed and heavily urbanised — local authority areas, not entire regions, tend to have the highest percentages [3] [5]. The supplied fact-check material examines claims of “entire cities becoming Muslim” and states that even the largest local authorities do not reach Muslim majorities; it uses 2021-based figures to conclude that no major UK city or local authority has a Muslim majority [6]. However, the exact per-city percentage rankings for 2025 are not provided among the supplied documents [1] [2] [6].
4. Numbers vs. proportions — why the difference matters
National totals (millions) tell a different story from local proportions. The MCB and other sources emphasise both: a headline 4 million Muslims across Britain in 2025 [1], and that most live in specific urban areas where local percentages are substantially higher than the national mean [2] [3]. Analysts and fact-checkers note that even when a city has a large Muslim population in absolute terms, that does not imply a Muslim majority across the whole city or region [6].
5. Conflicting narratives and political context
Some political rhetoric has claimed whole cities have “become Muslim”; the supplied fact-check counters that claim with census-based analysis showing no major city has a Muslim majority and that Muslims make up a minority overall in England and Wales (about 6.5–6.7% in different summaries) [6] [1]. The Wikipedia summary included in the material highlights social debate and polling about Islam in Britain in 2025, which indicates contested public attitudes and media attention around the subject [4]. These different framings reflect competing agendas: community-focused reporting aiming to summarise demographic change [2] and political commentary or sceptical fact-checks that push back on alarmist claims [6].
6. Limits of the supplied reporting and where to look next
Available sources here provide national shares and identify urban centres with high concentrations but do not give a comprehensive ranked list of UK regions/local authorities by Muslim proportion for 2025 within these files (not found in current reporting). For precise 2025 city-level percentages and a full ranked table, consult the Office for National Statistics / local authority census releases or the detailed tables behind the MCB summary and Statista local-authority datasets cited in reporting [2] [5] [3].
Sources cited in-text: Muslim Council of Britain census summary [1] [2], Statista summaries [3] [5], Wikipedia compilation and context [4], and a 2025 fact-check that uses 2021 census-based figures [6].