How many people follow the Church of England?

The new Archbishop of Canterbury will lead a Church of England that has seen congregations grow slightly in recent years, though numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels.

There were an estimated 1.02 million regular worshippers across the Church in 2024, up from 1.01 million in 2023.

It is the fourth annual increase in a row, according to the body’s Statistics for Mission report.

The figure stood at 1.11 million in 2019 and 1.14 million in 2014.

It reflects the overall number of regular members of what the Church calls its “worshipping community” across England.

This is defined as people who attend an act of worship at least once a month, whether in person or remotely from home.

The number of people physically in church on what the report calls a “typical Sunday” in England stood at 582,000 last year, up from 574,000 the previous year but below 716,000 in 2019.

Average weekly attendances, which includes Sunday and midweek services, totalled 701,000, up from 693,000 in 2023 but lower than 864,000 in 2019.

“While the overall figures show that in-person attendance has not fully reached pre-pandemic levels, the figures suggest it is moving closer to the pre-pandemic trend”, the report says.

When Dame Sarah Mullally is legally appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in January, she will become the Church of England’s most senior cleric in a nation that is steadily becoming less Christian.

Some 46% of the population of England described themselves as Christian in the 2021 census: the first time the figure had dropped below a half, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

More than a third (37%) of people told the census they had no religion, while 7% identified as Muslim, 2% as Hindu, 2% identified with another religion and 6% did not give an answer.

The proportion of the population identifying as Christian varies across England, from 53% in the North West to 41% in London.

The census did not ask people to specify what branch of Christianity they followed, such as Anglican – typified by the Church of England – Catholic, Methodist or another tradition.