Half the residents in Somerset West and Taunton identify as Christian, new census figures show – as England and Wales see a sharp drop.

Humanists UK ran campaigns in the lead up to the censuses in 2011 and 2021 encouraging non-religious people to select "no religion". The organisation said the recent figures should be a "wake-up call" for reconsidering the role religion has in society.

Office for National Statistics data from the 2021 census shows 50% of people in Somerset West and Taunton selected Christianity as their religion and about 42% selected "no religion" last year.

Of those who selected "no religion", 105 people said they were agnostic, while 48 selected Atheism.

Across England and Wales, 46% of the population described themselves as Christian in the last census, down from 59% a decade earlier. It is the first time the proportion has dropped below half.

And the percentage of people saying they had no religion jumped from around a quarter (25%) in 2011 to over a third (37%) last year.

The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell said: "It’s not a great surprise that the census shows fewer people in this country identifying as Christian than in the past, but it still throws down a challenge to us not only to trust that God will build his kingdom on Earth but also to play our part in making Christ known."

Nationally, there were increases in the proportion of people describing themselves as Muslim, with 6.5% selecting the religion last year, up from 4.9% in the previous census. More people also identified as Hindu, increasing from 1.5% in 2011 to 1.7% in 2021.

In Somerset West and Taunton, 918 identified as Muslim last year and ​432 residents said they were Hindu in the survey.

There were 516 Buddhists and 117 residents who selected Judaism.

Of the other options, 326 said they were pagans and 22 said they practice Heathenism.

The National Secular Society said the figures show that aspects of society such as the Anglican establishment and daily prayers and worship in parliament and schools, are “all inappropriate, hopelessly outdated and fail to reflect the country we actually live in” and called for reform.

Stephen Evans said, the society's chief executive, said: “It’s official – we are no longer a Christian country.”