The number of people identifying religiously as Jews in last year's Census has risen in England and Wales from the previous count a decade ago.

According to the figures published by the Office of National Statistics today, there were 263,000 Jews who answered the voluntary question on religion in 2011, compared with 260,000 in 2001.

Jews remain at 0.5 per cent of the population in England and Wales. But Christianity recorded a massive drop from 71.7 per cent in 2001 to 59.3 per cent in 2011, while those who recorded "no religion" rose significantly from 14.8 per cent in 2001 to 25.1 per cent in 2011.

The recorded Muslim population was up from three per cent to 4.8 per cent in the latest count, with Hindus up from 1.1 per cent to 1.5 per cent and Sikhs from 0.6 per cent to 0.8 per cent and Buddhists from 0.3 to 0.4 per cent. Just over 7 per cent of the population did not answer the question, while 0.4 per cent belonged to other religions.

Demographic experts believe the Jewish figure in 2001 represented less than the actual Jewish population, with Hackney in particular recording a low figure.