The 2001 Census has provided definitive information on the British Muslim community for the first time. We now know that there are 1.6 million Muslims in Britain. However the Census has also thrown up some surprises:

• Britain's Muslim community has a very high proportion of young people 33.8 % of Muslims are aged 0-15 (national average is 20.2%), and 18.2 % age 16-24 (national average is 10.9%). More than half are British-born
  
  
• there are almost 111,000 lone parent families in the community (Female parent - 99,000, Male parent 12,000)
  
  
• 11.6% of Muslims describe their ethnicity as White and 6.9% as Black or Black British (74% are Asian or Asian British)
  
  This type of Census data is invaluable for planning purposes e.g. the location of nursery and educational facilities, the demand for family support and other support networks.