---
title: Understanding UK Evangelicals - Who are they?
date: 2026-09-04T14:46:00+01:00
author: Tim Coysh
canonical_url: "https://www.eauk.org/resources/our-resources/research/understanding-uk-evangelicals"
section: Pages
---
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# Understanding UK Evangelicals

Who are they?

 12.3 millionpeople in the UK hold evangelical beliefs OR identify as evangelical (or both). This report presents the findings of a landmark survey that sought to measure the size, shape and identity of the evangelical population across the United Kingdom.

 [Download the full report  ](https://www.eauk.org/index.php?p=actions/download-tracker/download&dlt=b1c8b2a1e4e7a3ab2c601712ba85939d32376634313962316364633031613363626632623133633139373836326532306531333737623838323363353664353863613735646364383430323138366138b76701b8b24070ea4513257bdde1a4eec7670f3c4eb5521e09fcf25b2896550e6a73412bf41e0b6e61adecfecf0e69bf) [Explore the findings](#groups) 

 

 

 Most practising Christians in the UK are evangelicals and evangelical Christianity is growing. Evangelicals are younger, more ethnically diverse, and more likely to be male than the wider population.

 

  ## Five groups within UK evangelicalism

This report maps out the evangelical landscape using two key measures — **identity** and **belief**. From this we identified five groups within the broader evangelical population, from those who simply identify with the label to those who hold the tightest combination of evangelical identity, belief, and Protestant church tradition.

 

TapClick a region of the diagram, or a group in the list below, to explore it

          Reset to Somewhat Evangelical  

 

 
 

   of the UK 

 

   Somewhat Evangelical 12.3 million    Belief Evangelicals 9.9 million    Identity Evangelicals 8.0 million    Belief Only Evangelicals 4.3 million    Broad Evangelicals 5.5 million    Classic Evangelicals 2.6 million    Evangelicals in Name Only 2.5 million  

 

 

 

 ## At a time of widely reported decline in religion, the statistics tell a different story

 

There are approximately

2.6 million

**Classic Evangelicals** in the UK. This is based on the 3.8% of respondents who strongly hold evangelical beliefs AND identify as an evangelical AND are part of Protestant traditions.

 

1 in 3

of those who strongly agree with evangelical beliefs are from an ethnic minority background.

 

There are approximately

5.5 million

**Broad Evangelicals** in the UK. This is based on the 7.9% of respondents who hold evangelical beliefs AND identify as an evangelical.

 

7.2%

of respondents are practising Christians – attending church at least monthly and praying and reading the Bible at least weekly.

 

17.6%

of UK adults are Somewhat Evangelical. This is based on respondents who hold evangelical beliefs OR identify as an evangelical.

 

64%

of practising Christians are Broad Evangelicals.

 

Adults under 35

are most likely to identify as evangelicals and hold evangelical beliefs.

 

12%

of UK adults attend church at least once a month.

 

 

 

   “The movement originating in the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century did much to shape the United Kingdom in the following two centuries. Now in the twenty-first century it is clear from the statistics in this report that Evangelicals of various types continue to form a significant proportion of the British population – and are growing.”

David Bebbington

Emeritus Professor of History, University of Stirling

 

  ## Three ways the Evangelical Alliance is here for you

Discover more about the Evangelical Alliance and see what we’re working on at the moment.

 

 [1

### Speaking up on the issues facing UK Christians

 Find out more  ](https://www.eauk.org/what-we-do/public-policy) [2

### Sharing the trends shaping mission and ministry today

 Find out more  ](https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views) [3

### Producing practical resources you can use in your church

 Find out more  ](https://www.eauk.org/resources) 

 

  ## Methodology

Whitestone Insight conducted an online survey using a nationally representative group of 8,407 adults. The fieldwork took place between 25 February and 8 March 2026. The data provided has a margin of error of 2%, meaning that all percentages can realistically be 2% higher or lower than presented in this report.

This survey sampled UK adults, and all underlying percentages are calculated on that adult sample. However, to give a clearer sense of scale, this report applies those percentages to the total UK population of approximately 70 million – rather than to the adult population alone – whenever it states a number of people.

 

 

8,407

UK adults surveyed online

 

3,804

people who categorised themselves as Christian, asked further questions

 

±2%

margin of error on all figures

 

Feb–Mar  
2026

fieldwork period

 

 

 

 

 ## Read the full report

To find out more about the Evangelical Alliance’s research, visit eauk.org/research.

 

 [Download the full report  ](https://www.eauk.org/index.php?p=actions/download-tracker/download&dlt=b1c8b2a1e4e7a3ab2c601712ba85939d32376634313962316364633031613363626632623133633139373836326532306531333737623838323363353664353863613735646364383430323138366138b76701b8b24070ea4513257bdde1a4eec7670f3c4eb5521e09fcf25b2896550e6a73412bf41e0b6e61adecfecf0e69bf) [Download the factsheet  ](https://www.eauk.org/index.php?p=actions/download-tracker/download&dlt=b0cda4b80b4cee2bee245ffdcf924e8565633862336237333839653663303566626130653933383964376532373836343061386235323563376335376437613033373538306539356466316136323634dd7620f7299391e0618946f72743e73c2915c98802d8766c4612eb5e03627f965af63680159ff31771297ffcd6890edb) [Explore more research](https://www.eauk.org/research) 

 

   ## Get the full report

Enter your details below to download the full Understanding UK Evangelicals - Who are they? report.
