BOLTON has one of the highest proportions of residents in the country who profess to have a religion, the latest Census figures have revealed.

Only 8.7 pc (22,829) of the population declared they had no religion compared with a national average of 14.8 pc - making the town 12th most 'religious' of the 376 local authority areas.

Of those who stated a religion 74.6 pc (194,631) are Christian, 7.1pc (18,444) are Muslim, 2pc (5,232) are Hindu, O.1pc (272) Buddhist and O.1pc (146) Jewish. Some 7.3 pc did not state their faith.

The Vicar of Bolton Rev Michael Williams said the challenge of reaching out to people who described themselves as Christians but limited their church attendance to weddings, christenings and funerals was a pressing one.

He said: "I think there's a huge task for the church to reach out to these people. The obviously profess and feel something but these days the church seems out of touch and out of date to so many people.

"There's a huge potential there for us to tap into but we won't do it through traditional means."

A concerted internet campaign meant that across the country 390,000 Star Wars fans, some 0.7 pc of the population, gave their religion as 'Jedi' but no town-by-town breakdown is available.

Had they been officially recognised they would have been the fourth largest religion, above Sikhism.

Registrar General for England and Wales Len Cook said: "We have put them among the 7.7 million people who said they had no religion. I suspect this was a decision which will not be challenged greatly."

The 2001 Census figures released yesterday give a detailed snapshot of Bolton life.

The borough's official population is now 261,037 - a reduction of 300 from the last Census in 1991.

A new set of questions about health revealed that 53,084 people had limited long-term illnesses -- the 97th worst proportion in the country -- and a further 28,650 reported that their general health was 'not good' -- the 70th worst. Together these groups make up 31.3 pc of the population.

The town has a total of 108,805 households -- the 32nd highest of any local authority area.

GENDER

Female: 133,936

Male:127,101

AGE

Aged 0 to 15: 56,748

Aged 16 to 74: 185,746

Aged 75 and over: 18,543

ETHNICITY

White: 89 pc (232,366)

Indian: 6.1pc (15,884)

Pakistani: 2.5 pc (6,487)

MARITAL STATUS

Married or re-married: 104,826 (28.4 pc)

Single (never married): 58,058 (51.3 pc)

Separated or divorced: 23,228 (11.4 pc)

Widowed: 18,177 (8.9 pc)

EMPLOYMENT

Employed: 59.5 pc

Retired:13.3 pc

Permanently sick or disabled: 7.4 pc

Looking after home/family: 6.4 pc

Student (economically inactive): 4 pc

Unemployed: 3.5 pc

Other inactive: 3.4 pc

Long-term unemployed: 1pc

Student (economically active): 2.5 pc

HOUSING

Number of households with residents: 108,805

Number of people per hectare: 18.7

Average household size: 2.39

Owner-occupied: 75160 (69.5 pc)

Without central heating: 14,687 (13.6 pc)

Without own bath/shower and toilet: 287 (0.3pc)