There is a record number of synagogues in the United Kingdom today, according to a newly published survey, but synagogue membership numbers have continued to decline.

A new report, Synagogue Membership in the United Kingdom in 2016, has found that despite the fact that there are now 454 synagogues in the UK – the largest number ever recorded – synagogue membership numbers have dropped below 80,000 households for the first time since records began.

These are some of the key findings in the report produced by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Synagogue membership figures have been analysed consistently over several decades, and constitute the best measure of Jewish communal affiliation in the UK that exists. They provide the only consistent indicator of patterns of Jewish affiliation and belonging over time, and are thus of particular interest to community leaders and planners.

The new report reveals that 79,597 Jewish households across the United Kingdom held synagogue membership in 2016, down from 99,763 in 1990, the equivalent of a 20% decline over a quarter of a century. The rate of decline has fluctuated over time, but membership has dropped by 4% since the last synagogue membership report was published in 2010, the equivalent of 3,366 households across the country.

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