Median age of person identifying as Jewish in England and Wales is 41 years old
Newly published results from the 2021 Census in England and Wales confirm more women identifying as Jews in England than males
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Newly-published results from the 2021 Census in England and Wales have confirmed that the average age of those responded by identifying as “Jewish” was 41 years old.
The statistics also confirmed:”People who reported their religion their religion as ‘Jewish’ were consistently distributed between around 25 and 65 years.”
The census data also confirms that there are under 8000 more women identifying as Jewish than there are males.
This figure suggested there was little change to the median age of Jews in England and Wales since the last census was published in 2011.
But it suggested that the overall age profile of those identifying as Jewish was “more evenly distributed than the overall population.”
The new census data, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also gave a fascinating into small and large Jewish populations across the two countries.
Overall there are 139, 620 females identifying as Jewish in England and Wales, with 131, 710 men identifying as Jews.
But figures for Welsh Jewry alone confirm that just 970 females and 1075 men self-identify as being Jewish there.
London has the biggest Jewish community – with 75,135 women and 70,330 men ticking the Jewish box.
Last November the first data from the 2021 Census confirmed thetotal number of people self-identifying as Jews in England and Wales in 2021 was 271,327.
This compared with 265,073 in 2011 and 259,927 in 2001.
The newly published data showed that people who identified as Christianhad the oldest average age of the tick-box response options – 51 years.
This compared to an average 40 years for the overall population of England and Wales.
People who described themselves as “Muslim” had the youngest average age at 27 years.
This was followed by those who reported “No religion” – 32 years.
The data also included detailed breakdowns on Jewish populations across the country.
In Barnet 29,195 females and 27, 420 men identified as Jews, in Hackney 8,775 women and 8,650 men, in Hertsmere there were 9, 570, females and 8775 women, while in Salford there were 5,070 women and 5305 men.
In nearby Bury the figure was 5,560 female and 5175 men.
Small Jewish communities included 15 women and and 25 males identifying as Jews in Bridgend, Wales and the 15 females and 30 men living in Bassetlaw who ticked the Jewish box on the census.
The census had first introduced a voluntary question on religion in 2001.
In total, 94.0% of the overall population in England and Wales (56.0 million people) chose to answer the religion question in 2021.
This is a higher percentage than in 2011, when 92.9% (52.1 million) answered the religion question and 7.1% (4.0 million) chose not to answer.
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