Muslims have tested positive for COVID-19 at a rate 3.5 times higher than the national average.
- 7 out of 10 young Muslims said that the pandemic has negatively impacted their mental health
- Muslims lost their jobs at a rate 6 times greater than the rest of the UK
The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly had huge ramifications on how we function in both a personal capacity and a societal capacity. As we pass the one year mark of when the UK was first plunged into lockdown, it is crucial that the effect of the pandemic and the lockdowns are researched and understood. Research on this matter has so far failed to detail the effect of COVID-19 on the three and a half million Muslims in Britain – the largest religious minority in Britain by a significant margin.
This report explores the experience of British Muslims through the turbulent and unpredictable year that we have spent in lockdown. We asked 1,000 British Muslims to share answers to a comprehensive set of questions that have allowed Muslim Census to encapsulate a holistic overview of their experience during the last year. The questions ranged from the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of British Muslims and relations with their family and friends to job satisfaction and employment alongside their physical health and compliance with COVID-19 restrictions. As such, Muslim Census has been able to conduct a detailed inspection into the British Muslim experience of the pandemic and the accompanying lockdowns – an incredibly important task that was, until now, left relatively under-researched and unexplored.