Total population | |
---|---|
1,032,775 (2021) ; 1.7% of the total population | |
Religions | |
Hinduism Majority: Vaishnavism Minority: Shaivism | |
Languages | |
| |
Related ethnic groups | |
British Sikhs and British Buddhists |
Hinduism by country |
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Full list |
Hinduism is the third largest religious group in the United Kingdom, after Christianity and Islam; the religion is followed by around 1.7% of the total population of the nation. [2] Hindus had a presence in the United Kingdom since the early 19th century, as at the time India was part of the British Empire. Many Indians in the British Indian Army settled in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. [3] According to 2021 United Kingdom census, 1,032,775 residents (1.7%) identified themselves as Hindus. [4]
Most of the British Hindus are immigrants, mainly from India, [5] and there are also significant number of Hindu immigrants from Sri Lanka [6] and Nepal, [7] [8] with even smaller numbers from Afghanistan, [9] Bangladesh, [10] [11] and Bhutan. [12] In the recent times, due to the efforts of ISKCON, BAPS and other Hindu organisations and mass following of Yoga, Meditation and other Hindu practises, many British citizens have embraced Hinduism, including many celebrities. [13] [14]
Year | Percent | Increase |
---|---|---|
1971 | 0.25% | |
1981 | 0.49% | +0.24% |
1991 | 0.69% | +0.20% |
2001 | 0.95% | +0.26% |
2011 | 1.32% | +0.37% |
2021 | 1.70% | +0.38% |
The British Hindu population includes those who came directly from the Indian subcontinent, descendants of those Hindus who had originally migrated to other countries but later resettled in the United Kingdom, and those born and raised in the UK. It is not unusual to find third or fourth generation Hindus.
There have been three main waves of migration of Hindus in the UK, and most of the Hindu migration has occurred after World War II. [15] The first wave was at the time of British India's independence and partition in 1947. Also, in the early 1960s the Conservative health minister Enoch Powell recruited a large number of doctors from the Indian sub-continent. [16] The second wave occurred in the 1970s mainly from East Africa especially due to the expulsion of Asians from Uganda. [15] [17] Later, communities included those from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius and Fiji. The last wave of migration began in the 1990s and is a result of the United Kingdom's immigration policy, which made studying and immigration to the UK easier. This wave also included Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and professionals including doctors and software engineers from India. [15]
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1961 | 30,000 | — |
1971 | 138,000 | +360.0% |
1981 | 278,000 | +101.4% |
1991 | 397,000 | +42.8% |
2001 | 558,810 | +40.8% |
2011 | 835,394 | +49.5% |
2021 | 1,032,775 | +23.6% |
Religious Affiliation was not recorded prior to 2001. |
Hinduism is followed by 1.5% of the population of England. Hindus constitute 0.31% in Scotland, [18] and 0.34% in Wales. [19]
According to the 2011 census, nearly half of the 817,000 Hindus living in the UK were residents of the London metropolitan area. [20] About 300,000 British Hindus of all ages were born in the UK. [15]
According to the 2021 Census, Hindus in England & Wales enumerated 1,032,775, or 1.7% of the population. [21]
The Hindu population in the UK is predominantly urban, and has relatively higher representation in the professional and managerial positions. [22]
According to United Kingdom's Office of National Statistics, of all ethnic minorities in Britain, the British Hindus had the highest rate of economic activity in 2011 and 2018, [23] [24] and a median net wealth of £206,000 in 2006 (compared to median net wealth of £223,000 for British Christians). [25] In addition to this, according to survey conducted by Trust for London in 2012, Hindus living in London have the second highest median net wealth of £277,400 following British Jews' with the highest median wealth of £312,500. [26] Hindu men are more likely than the general population to be entrepreneurs, and both Hindu men and women are more likely than the general population to have higher education. [22] Over a 20-year period, British Hindus also had the third-lowest poverty level (after British Christian and British Jews), [27] and the second-lowest rates of arrest, trial or imprisonment at 0.5% (after British Jews' 0.3%) among all ethnic groups tracked by UK's Ministry of Justice. [28] Hindus constitute less than 0.5% of the total Prison population in Britain (compared to 48% for Christians and 15% for Muslims). [29] According to Office for National Statistics, British Hindus also have the second highest employment rate of 76% amongst all religious groups in UK followed by people with no religious affiliation at 77%. [24] Employees who identified as Hindu have consistently had the second-highest median hourly earnings; in 2018, this was £13.80. [24] 4 in 10 of those who identified as Hindu were occupied in high-skill occupations [24] which was second in the country following British Jews. British who identified as Hindus have the highest percentage with a degree or equivalent qualification. [24]
A University of Derby report states that there are considerable linguistic and theosophical diversities among Hindus in the United Kingdom, yet they also share certain core beliefs, rites and festivals of Hinduism. [30]
UK-wide Hindu organisations include the National Council of Hindu Temples, the Hindu Council UK and the Hindu Forum of Britain—national umbrella organisations for Hindus in the UK. [31] The National Council of Hindu Temples UK which is the oldest UK-wide Hindu organisation. It comprises over 300 Hindu temples (mandirs) and Hindu faith organisations. [31] [32] The Hindu Council UK representing almost 400 affiliated cultural and religious organisations of various Hindu denominations including temples, [31] [33] and the Hindu Forum of Britain, with nearly 300 member organisations. [31] [34]
There are regional organizations that organise community events and social affairs in the UK, such as The Hindu Council of Birmingham. [35]
There were over 150 Hindu temples in the UK in 2012 [36] with 30 Temples in the London area alone. [37] Slough Hindu Temple was built by the Slough Hindu Cultural Society - formally opened in 1981 - it was the first purpose-built Hindu Temple in the British Isles. However, the first Hindu Temple in the UK was opened in the late-1920s near Earls Court in London and it was functional for about four years. [38] In 2020, Historic England (HE) published A Survey of Hindu Buildings in England with the aim of providing information about buildings that Hindus use in England so that HE can work with communities to enhance and protect those buildings now and in the future. The scoping survey identified 187 Hindu temples in England. [39]
There is a diversity of Hindu-based organisations in the UK including the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) in Neasden (Greater London), the Chinmaya Mission, Ramakrishna Mission and Sai Organisation, each having large followings. SHYAM, an educational Hindu organisation teaches the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Shrimad Bhagavad, Vedas and Upanishads. [40] The predominant Hindu beliefs found in the UK include its Vedanta monist, Vedanta monotheistic and various sampradayas. [41] Less of 1% of the Hindus in the UK identify themselves to be belonging to Divine Life Society, Hare Krishna and other organizations. [42]
Hindus in the United Kingdom celebrate major festivals such as Diwali. [43] Homes and businesses are decorated with festive lights and Hindus gift sweets such as laddoo and barfi. Community events such as dances and parties bring Hindus and non-Hindus together. Leicester annually plays hosts to one of the biggest Diwali celebrations outside of India. [44]
The Hindu festival of Diwali has begun to find acceptance into the larger British community. [45] [46] King Charles has attended Diwali celebrations at some of UK’s prominent Hindu temples, such as the Swaminarayan Temple in Neasden. [47] [48] [49] Since 2009, Diwali has been celebrated every year at 10 Downing Street, the residence of the UK Prime Minister. [50] [45]
The Hindu Council UK is an umbrella organisation for Hindus living in the United Kingdom, and is one of several groups representing Hindus that are influential at the national level. [51] [31] It was set up in 1994. According to the Council's then-General Secretary, it faced opposition from the Sangh Parivar when it was founded. [51] It collaborated with the Department for Communities and Local Government to explore how caste influenced public life in the UK. [51] A debate on religious conversion hosted on its website reflected a Hindu nationalist perspective, and included contributors from the Vishva Hindu Parishad. [51]
According to census records, 95.6% of the Hindus in England and Wales are ethnically Asian, with the 4.4% of the remainder being as follows: White 1.47%, Mixed 1.19%, Black 0.67% and other ethnicities 1% (including 0.13% Arab). [52]
A very large proportion of Hindus in the United Kingdom are ethnically Asian, mainly Indians whose ancestors immigrated to the United Kingdom for employment or took asylum due to poverty, discrimination and persecution. [53]
Famous converts to Hinduism include:
In the 2017 general election, eight Hindu MPs (five Conservative and three Labour) were elected to Parliament. [58]
During the 2019 general election, The Times of India reported that supporters of Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were actively campaigning for the Tories in 48 marginal seats, [59] and the Today programme reported that it had seen WhatsApp messages sent to Hindus across the country urging them to vote Conservative. [60] [61] Some British Indians spoke out against what they saw as the BJP's meddling in the UK election. [62] The Hindu Council UK has been strongly critical of Labour, going as far as to say that Labour is "anti-Hindu" [63] and objected to the party's condemnation of the Indian government's actions in the disputed territory of Kashmir. [61]
In 2022, Rishi Sunak became the first practicing Hindu British prime minister, as well as the first non-white Prime Minister. [64]
Hindus are on average the second wealthiest religious group after Jewish people in the UK. Employees who identified as Hindu have consistently had the second-highest median hourly earnings; in 2018, this was £13.80. [65]
A report authored by Robert Berkeley of Runnymede Trust states that the Hindu community groups and organizations in the United Kingdom face systematic disadvantage and discrimination. [22] They face a legacy of inequality, targeting and stereotyping in daily life and by the media, which has left the Hindu community isolated, with a limited capacity to engage with other communities, or address the problems they face. [22] [66]
Scholars state that the Hindu community in the United Kingdom, and Europe in general, has faced discrimination in immigration policies adopted by the local governments. [67] [68] In local councils, construction or expansion permits for Hindu temples and community centers have been turned down for years, while Muslim mosques and Christian churches have been approved by the same councils and built. [69] The discrimination suffered by Hindu communities from the local council officials in Britain has been described by Paul Weller as follows,
Neighbourhood traffic and parking issues continued to be reported as a problem. For example, a leader of the Hindu community told us that his temple was not given permission or space for worshippers to park outside the temple during festivals – which occurred only a few times a year. By contrast, he drew attention to parking restrictions have been lifted every Friday for the local mosque and identified this as unfair. A Hindu woman in another field research location, described problems with securing planning permission to build an extension and car park for her local temple. She contrasted this with the experience of Muslims who, according to her, had been allowed to build a mosque on "each and every road".
Nearly 50% of Hindu children, both boys and girls, in British schools have reported to being victims of bullying for being Hindu and their religious heritage. [70] [71] However, Claire Monks et al. note that children of various races and religions report being victims of bullying in British schools as well. [72]
The Hindu community in the United Kingdom is not unique in suffering discrimination and stereotyping. [22] [73] The similarly small Jewish community of the United Kingdom, and in recent years the much larger Muslim community of the United Kingdom, has also expressed similar concerns. New legislation and institutions to understand and respond to religious discrimination are being debated by British politicians. [22] [73]
Private golfing, country clubs and other social clubs in Britain have routinely discriminated against and denied entry to Hindus – in addition to Sikhs, Muslims, women, Africans and other minorities after asserting "freedom of association" principle, [74] and parts of EU-wide law to limit this practice were adopted in the United Kingdom in 1998. [75] [76] In some instances of Islamist terrorism, such as after the 7 July 2005 London bombings, Hindus along with Sikhs of the United Kingdom became more targeted and vulnerable for backlash than Muslims. [73] [77]
In October 2018, it was reported that Conservative Party (UK) London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey had written a pamphlet, entitled No Man’s Land, for the Centre for Policy Studies. In it, Bailey argued that accommodating Hindus "[robs] Britain of its community" and is turning the country into a "crime riddled cess pool". He also claimed that South Asians "bring their culture, their country and any problems they might have, with them" and that this was not a problem within the black community "because we’ve shared a religion and in many cases a language". [78] In the pamphlet, Bailey had confused the Hindu religion and the Hindi language: "You don’t know what to do. You bring your children to school and they learn far more about Diwali than Christmas. I speak to the people who are from Brent and they’ve been having Hindi (sic) days off." [79] The Conservative Party Deputy Chairman, James Cleverly, defended Bailey and insisted he was misunderstood, and that he was implying black boys were drifting into crime as a result of learning more about Hinduism rather than "their own Christian culture". [80] However, the anti-racism Hope Not Hate campaign group called Bailey's comments "grotesque". [81] The comments were condemned by the Hindu Council of the United Kingdom who expressed "disappointment at the misrepresentation of our faith" by Bailey. [82]
In April 2023 the Henry Jackson Society did an investigation on Anti-Hindu hate in schools, according to the report 51% of parents of Hindu pupils state that their child had experienced anti-Hindu hate in schools while less than 1% of schools surveyed reported any anti-Hindu related incidents in the last five years. They also found that many Muslim students have bullied their Hindu classmates on religious grounds, The Telegraph reported quoting the study, claimed that Muslim pupils called for Hindus to convert or face "threats of hell for disbelievers" using terms such as "kaffir". In one example a child "was harassed and told that if they convert to Islam, their life will become so much easier" and another was told: "You aren't going to survive very long... If you want to go to paradise, you'll have to come to Islam... Hindus are the herbivores at the bottom of the food chain, we will eat you up." Another parent said children were told to watch videos of an Islamic preacher and to "convert because Hinduism makes no sense", The Telegraph reported. According to the think tank, religious education was "fostering discrimination" against Hindus with inappropriate references to the Indian caste system and misconceptions over the worship of deities which students felt made "a mockery of them". [83] [84] [85] [86]
Territory | Percent | Ref. |
---|---|---|
Anguilla | 0.42% | [87] |
Bermuda | 0.2% | [ citation needed ] |
British Virgin Islands | 1.88% | [88] |
Cayman Islands | 0.8% | [89] |
Gibraltar | 2% | [ citation needed ] |
Montserrat | 0.8% | [90] |
Turks and Caicos Islands | Unknown | [91] |
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is a Hindu temple in Neasden, London, England. Built entirely using traditional methods and materials, the Swaminarayan mandir has been described as being Britain's first authentic Hindu temple. It was also Europe's first traditional Hindu stone temple, as distinct from converted secular buildings. It is a part of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) organisation and was inaugurated in 1995 by Pramukh Swami Maharaj. The temple complex also consists of a permanent exhibition entitled "Understanding Hinduism" and a cultural centre housing an assembly hall, gymnasium, bookshop, and offices.
British society is one of the most secularised in the world and in many surveys determining religious beliefs of the population agnosticism, nontheism, atheism, secular humanism, and non-affiliation are views shared by a majority of Britons. Historically, it was dominated for over 1,400 years by various forms of Christianity, which replaced preceding Romano-British religions, including Celtic and Anglo-Saxon paganism. Religious affiliations of United Kingdom citizens are recorded by regular surveys, the four major ones being the national decennial census, the Labour Force Survey, the British Social Attitudes survey and the European Social Survey.
Hinduism is the third largest religion in Australia consisting of more than 684,002 followers, making up 2.7% of the population as of the 2021 census. Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Australia mostly through immigration. Hinduism is also one of the most youthful religions in Australia, with 34% and 66% of Hindus being under the age of 14 and 34 respectively.
Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha is a Hindu denomination within the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. It was formed in 1905 by Yagnapurushdas following his conviction that Swaminarayan remained present on earth through a lineage of gurus starting with Gunatitanand Swami. As of August 2016, Mahant Swami Maharaj is the 6th guru and president of BAPS.
Hinduism is the fourth-largest religion in Malaysia. About 1.78 million Malaysian residents are Hindus, according to 2010 Census of Malaysia. This is up from 1,380,400 in 2000.
Hinduism is the fourth-largest religion in the United States, comprising 1% of the population, the same as Buddhism and Islam. The majority of American Hindus are immigrants, mainly from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, with a minority from Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries.
Chuhra, also known as Bhanghi and Balmiki, is a Dalit caste in India and Pakistan. Populated regions include the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as Uttar Pradesh in India, among other parts of the Indian subcontinent such as southern India. Their traditional occupation is sweeping, a "polluting" occupation that caused them to be considered untouchables in the caste system.
Hinduism is the third-largest religion in Canada, which is followed by approximately 2.3% of the nation's total population. As of 2021, there are over 828,000 Canadians of the Hindu faith.
The Hindu Forum of Britain is an umbrella organisation of Hindu groups in the United Kingdom. Scholars have observed parallels between its discourse and Hindutva organisations in India and suggest possible links.
British Sikhs number over 520,000 people and account for 0.85% of the British population as of 2021, forming the United Kingdom's fourth-largest religious group. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, British Sikhs numbered 524,529, with 520,092 in England, 4,048 in Wales, and 389 in Northern Ireland. The largest Sikh populations in the United Kingdom are in the West Midlands and Greater London.
Mauritius is the only African Union country where Hinduism is the dominant religion, with about 50% of the population as followers in 2011. Hinduism is the second largest religion in Réunion (6.7%) and Seychelles (5.4%).
Hinduism is a minority religion in Sweden practised by 0.13% of the population or 13,000 people out of a population of 10.5 million. Hinduism is practised mainly by persons of Indian origin and non-resident Indians together. A majority of them are Tamils, Punjabis, Bengalis, Gujaratis, Telugu's and Kannadigas.
The Shri Swami Narayan Mandir, Karachi is a Hindu temple that is the only Swami Narayan temple in Pakistan. The temple is notable for its size and frontage, over 32,306 square yards (27,012 m2) on the M. A. Jinnah Road in Karachi city. The temple celebrated its anniversary of 216 years in April 2004. There is a sacred cowshed within the premises of this temple. The temple is located at the centre of a Hindu neighbourhood in Karachi. The building that housed a dharmshala for visiting devotees has now been converted to the office of the City District Government.
Hinduism in England is the third largest religion in the country, with over 1,020,533 followers as of the 2021 Census. This represents over 1.5% of the English population, up from 1.1% the previous decade. Hindus are predominantly in the cities of London and Leicester, where they make up greater proportions of the population. England has a number of Hindu temples, including the Hindu temple at Neasden which is the largest Hindu temple in Europe. In 2007, the largest Hindu Mandir in the North of England, the Bradford Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple opened in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
British Indians form the largest ethno-national group in London with a population of around 656,272 or 7.5% of the population. The majority are concentrated in West London, though populations can be found throughout London.
Govardhan Puja, also known as Annakut or Annakoot, is a Hindu festival celebrated on the first lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Kartika, on the fourth day of Diwali. Devotees worship Govardhan Hill and prepare and offer a large variety of vegetarian food to Krishna as a mark of gratitude. For Vaishnavas, this day commemorates the incident in the Bhagavata Purana when Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill to provide the villagers of Vrindavan shelter from torrential rains. This incident symbolizes God offering protection to devotees who take singular refuge in him. Devotees offer a mountain of food, metaphorically representing the Govardhan Hill, to God as a ritual remembrance and to renew their faith in taking refuge in God. The festival is observed by most Hindu denominations all over India and abroad.
Hinduism is a minority religion in Wales constituting 0.4% of its population. Under half of Welsh Hindus settled there in the second half of the 20th century.
Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Cardiff is a Swaminarayan temple located in the Grangetown area of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. It is the first and largest Hindu temple in Wales and comes under the NarNarayan Dev Gadi of the Swaminarayan Sampraday.
The conversion of non-Hindu places of worship into temples occurred for centuries, ever since the advent of other Dharmic faiths in the Indian subcontinent. As a result, Muslim mosques, Christian churches, Zoroastrian fire temples, Jain and Buddhist temples were converted into Hindu places of worship. Since the dawn of the 20th century, there have been active movements to convert non-Hindu religious sites into temples, primarily in the West and in India.
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