Nearly half the population of England and Wales identify as having 'no religion', according to a new report.

The analysis was carried out by St. Mary’s Catholic University in Twickenham and shows the proportion of non religious people rose from 25% in 2011 to 48.5% in 2014.

Those who define themselves as Christian, including Anglicans, Catholics and other denominations, made up 43.8%, while 7.7% were of non Christian religions.

Wales was found to be the least religious area with 59.3% declaring no religious affiliation.

The findings were based on an analysis of publicly available data collected through British Social Attitudes surveys.

So, how do we compare to the UK?

According to results from Census 2011, 5.7% of the population of Ireland described themselves as having no religion which was a 400% increase from 1991.

Roman Catholics represented the largest group, at nearly 85%.

Source: CSO

The results of our most recent Census - carried out on April 24th 2016 - won't be released until later in the year.

In the run up to the night, the Humanist Association of Ireland called on people to tick 'no religion' if they do not practise a religion or no longer associate with church teachings.