Religion
Muslim families most likely to have children
Families: by presence and number of children and religion, April 2001, GB
Families headed by a Muslim are more likely than other families to have children living with them. Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) had at least one dependent child in the family in 2001, compared with two fifths of Jewish (41 per cent) and Christian (40 per cent) families.
Muslim families also had the largest number of children. Over a quarter (27 per cent) of Muslim families had three or more dependent children, compared with 14 per cent of Sikh, 8 per cent of Hindu, and 7 per cent of Christian families.
The larger proportion of families with children and larger family sizes is partly a reflection of the younger age structure of the Muslim population, but may also reflect their intentions to have larger families. Many Muslims have a Pakistani or Bangladeshi background and it has been shown that these ethnic groups intend to have on average over 3 children, compared with around 2 for the White population.
Families with dependent children: by family type and religion, April 2001, GB
Among families with dependent children, Hindu families were most likely to be headed by a married couple (87 per cent) in 2001.
Over 80 per cent of Sikh and Jewish families with dependent children were also headed by a married couple. Families with other religions or no religious affiliation were the least likely to be married couple families (53 per cent).
Families with no religion were the most likely to be cohabiting couple families with dependent children, 18 per cent, compared with 10 per cent of Christian and 2 per cent of Hindu families.
Lone-parent families with dependent children were most common among families of other religions (35 per cent), Buddhist families (30 per cent) and families with no religious affiliation (29 per cent).
Sources: Census 2001, Office for National Statistics; General Register Office for Scotland; Intended family size: General Household Survey, 1979-2001, Office for National Statistics
Notes:
Family: a married/cohabiting couple with or without child(ren), or a lone-parent with child(ren). Cohabiting couples includes same sex couples.
Dependent children: aged under 16 in a household, or 16-18 in full-time education in a family.
Family Reference Person (FRP) is used to identify a family and its characteristics. The FRP in a couple is based on economic activity, then age (oldest), then the first member of the couple on the Census form.
The religion of a family is given by the religion of the FRP. It does not follow that everyone in the family will be of the same religion as the FRP.
The Census question about religion was voluntary.
In 2001, 74% of Muslims were from an Asian ethnic background – Pakistani (43%), Bangladeshi (16%), Indian (8%) and Other Asian (6%).
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