Slough remains a town with among the largest Sikh communities in the country, census data has confirmed.
The figures from the 2021 census showed that Slough was home to 3.4% of England and Wales’ Sikh population, with 11.3% of people in the borough listing it as their religion.
It also had the largest proportion of the country’s Sikh population outside of either Greater London or the West Midlands.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) report from 15 December that introduced the findings reads: “Most people who identified as Sikh lived in England, with 521,805 residents in England who identified as Sikh.
“There was also a larger proportion of people who identified as Sikh in England (0.9% of the population of England) than Wales, where 4,065 people identified as Sikh (0.1% of the population of Wales).”
The data further found that more than one in four people identifying as Sikh in England and Wales live in the West Midlands, with Sandwell holding the highest portion of the Sikh population at 7.5%.
Sikhs represented the fourth largest religious group in Slough at the 2021 census, behind Christians at 32% of the town’s population, Muslims at 29.4% and those reporting no religion at 13.1%.
The percentage of Slough’s population identifying as Sikh has grown to 11.3% from 10.6% at the previous census in 2011.
The ONS report also found that homeownership rates across England and Wales were higher among the Sikh population at 77.7% than the average of 62.7%.
The county’s Sikh population also made up the majority of Panjabi speakers in England and Wales, with 63.9% of speakers identifying as Sikh.
The report adds: “The most common main language for people who identified as Sikh was English (English or Welsh in Wales) at 62.1%, compared with 91.1% of the England and Wales population.
“The second most common main language for people who identified as Sikh was Panjabi (36.6%). In comparison, only 0.5% of the England and Wales population reported Panjabi as their main language.”
