The decrease in the proportion of English citizens who identify as Christians has continued, but slowed down, in the past decade as opposed to the 2000s. Muslims have become the fastest-growing faith group in England, while the number of those reporting no religious affiliation has increased too.

A British government study has found that the size of England’s Muslim community has grown while the number of Christians has fallen.

A snapshot of religious allegiances by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), released in December, used data from household surveys, conducted between 2014 and 2016, and the most recent UK census, carried out in 2011.

It found that Christianity remains the most popular religion in England. However, the share of respondents who described themselves as Christians dropped from 59.6 percent in 2011 to 56.6 percent, while ‘Muslims’ made up 5.6 percent of the population compared with 4.7 percent eight years ago.

If this number is taken at face value (the findings are not precise), England’s Muslim population now exceeds 3 million for the first time ever – making it the second-largest and the fastest-growing religious group in the country.