Editing Modern paganism (section)

====Western Europe====
A study by [[Ronald Hutton]] compared a number of different sources (including membership lists of major UK organizations, attendance at major events, subscriptions to magazines, etc.) and used standard models for extrapolating likely numbers. This estimate accounted for multiple membership overlaps, as well as the number of adherents represented by each attendee of a pagan gathering. Hutton estimated that there are 250,000 modern pagans in [[United Kingdom|the United Kingdom]], roughly equivalent to the national [[Hindu]] community.{{Sfn|Hutton|1999}}

A smaller number is suggested by the results of the [[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 Census]], in which a question about religious affiliation was asked for the first time. Respondents were able to write in an affiliation not covered by the checklist of common religions, and a total of 42,262 people from England, Scotland and Wales declared themselves to be pagans by this method. These figures were not released as a matter of course by the [[Office for National Statistics]] but were released after an application by the [[Pagan Federation]] of Scotland.<ref>[http://www.scottishpf.org/census.html Pagans and the Scottish Census of 2001] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113182416/http://www.scottishpf.org/census.html |date=13 January 2010 }}. Retrieved 18 October 2007.</ref> This is more than many well known traditions such as [[Rastafari movement|Rastafarian]], [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼí]] and [[Zoroastrianism|Zoroastrian]] groups but fewer than the big six of Christianity, [[Islam]], [[Hinduism]], [[Sikhism]], Judaism and [[Buddhism]]. It is also fewer than the adherents of [[Jediism]], whose [[Jedi census phenomenon|campaign]] made their faith the fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.<ref>[http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/census-2001-summary-theme-figures-and-rankings/390-000-jedis-there-are/jedi.html National Statistics Office] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221104906/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/census-2001-summary-theme-figures-and-rankings/390-000-jedis-there-are/jedi.html |date=21 February 2016 }} (2001): '390,000 Jedi There Are'. Retrieved 18 October 2007.</ref>

[[File:Hellen ritual (2).jpg|left|thumb|Modern Hellen ritual in Greece]]

The 2001 UK Census figures did not allow an accurate breakdown of traditions within the pagan heading, as a campaign by the Pagan Federation before the census encouraged Wiccans, Heathens, Druids and others all to use the same write-in term 'pagan' to maximise the numbers reported. However, the [[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 census]] made it possible to describe oneself as pagan-Wiccan, pagan-Druid and so on. The figures for England and Wales showed 80,153 describing themselves as pagan (or some subgroup thereof). The largest subgroup was Wicca, with 11,766 adherents.<ref>[[Office for National Statistics]], 11 December 2012, ''[http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?newquery=%2A&newoffset=25&pageSize=25&edition=tcm%3A77-286262 2011 Census, Key Statistics for Local Authorities in England and Wales] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927041121/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?newquery=%2A&newoffset=25&pageSize=25&edition=tcm%3A77-286262 |date=27 September 2015 }}''. Accessed 12 December 2012.</ref> The overall numbers of people self-reporting as pagan rose between 2001 and 2011. In 2001, about seven people per 10,000 UK respondents were pagan; in 2011, the number (based on the England and Wales population) was 14.3 people per 10,000 respondents.

Census figures in Ireland do not provide a breakdown of religions outside of the major Christian denominations and other major world religions. A total of 22,497 people stated Other Religion in the 2006 census; and a rough estimate is that there were 2,000–3,000 practicing pagans in Ireland in 2009. Numerous pagan groups – primarily Wiccan and Druidic – exist in Ireland though none is officially recognised by the Government. Irish paganism is often strongly concerned with issues of place and language.<ref>Butler, Jenny, "Irish neo-paganism". pages 111–130 in Olivia Cosgrove et al. (eds), ''Ireland's new religious movements''. Cambridge Scholars, 2011</ref>