...It found Muslims had the highest rate of unemployment, the poorest health, the most disability and fewest educational qualifications. In most respects Muslim women fared worse than Muslim men. Compared with people from other religious groups, Muslims lived in the biggest households and were the least likely to own their own homes. They were five times more likely to marry by the age of 24 than the British average. The figures were, to some extent, explained by the fact that Muslims - the second biggest religious group - were the least well-established. More than half were born outside the UK and only 65% described their national identity as British, English, Scottish or Welsh.
Muslims had the youngest age profile of all religious groups, with 34% under 16 compared with 25% of Sikhs, 21% of Hindus and 18% of Christians. But the extent of Muslims' deprivation was the key finding from the ONS data, with implications for community relations. In 2003/4 Muslims had the highest unemployment rate. Among men it was 14%, compared with 4% among Christians. For women it was 15%, almost four times the rate among Christians. Muslims aged 16 to 24 had the highest unemployment rates of all at 22%, compared with an average for Christians of 11%. Muslim men and women were more likely than other groups to be economically inactive: not available for work or not seeking it. More than two-thirds (68%) of Muslim women of working age were economically inactive, compared with 25% of Christians and no more than a third of women in other religious groups...