A major survey shows that there are 5.5 million committed evangelicals, 8 per cent of the population. Around 40 per cent of them are under the age 35, the Evangelical Alliance United Kingdom reports.
A church in the United Kingdom offering worship services and coffee. / Photo: [link]Haydon[/link], Unsplash, CC0.
Two in three Christians in the UK who attend a local church, pray and clearly identify with their faith are evangelical in their theology.
This is the key finding of a major study based on a survey asking 8,400 people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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[photo_footer] How the 2026 survey of the EAUK describes evangelical Christians in the UK. [/photo_footer]
The new data concludes that there are 5.5 million people in the United Kingdom who not only identify as evangelicals but also hold to an evangelical theology.
Applied to society as a whole, this means that “almost 8 per cent of the population is evangelical” in the UK at present. The total number of practising Christians (those who attend services, pray and demonstrate a commitment to their faith) is estimated to be around 12 per cent of the population, meaning that evangelicals currently constitute a large majority of the country’s practising Christians.
[photo_footer] Almost half of 'classic evangelicals' in the UK attend either Pentecostal or Anglican churches. [/photo_footer]
The Evangelical Alliance UK (EAUK) hired the polling firm Whitestone, which carried out the poll between February and March 2026. It offers, they say, “the clearest picture yet” of evangelicalism in the country.
A key finding from the report, entitled Understanding UK Evangelicals: who are they?, is that over 40 per cent of evangelical Christians in the UK are under 35.
[photo_footer] Evangelicals in the UK are much younger than the rest of society. [/photo_footer]
The movement’s vitality is also demonstrated in the fact that around 30 per cent of evangelicals belong to an ethnic minority.
“The evangelical church in the UK is thriving: it’s young, diverse, and growing,” says Gavin Calver, CEO of the Evangelical Alliance. The report, he adds, shows that evangelicals “remain at the heart of church life every Sunday” and “gives us real confidence that evangelicals will continue to shape the future of the church”.
The reality of these newest figures also challenge certain stereotypes picked up in the media. Danny Webster, director of advocacy, defines evangelism as “a movement united not by politics, but by a shared commitment to Jesus Christ and making Him known”.
[photo_footer] 70% of evangelicals in the UK are white, the rest are from other ethnics groups. [/photo_footer]
Evangelical Focus publishes an analysis in which Webster says evangelical Christians and their churches in the UK “cannot be ignored. If you meet three people who practise their Christian faith, go to church, read the Bible and pray, then two of them are likely to be evangelicals”.
The EAUK is celebrating 180 years of existence in 2026. The Alliance seeks to represent thousands of churches belonging to denominations ranging from Pentecostal to Baptist to Reformed.
You can read more about the study on the EAUK website and download the factsheet containing the survey questions here.
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