A QUARTER OF A MILLION Jedis live in the UK with the biggest community in Leeds. Click on our map to find out how many Star Wars Jedis live near YOU.
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| There are 248,000 Jedis in the UK |
Yes, it seems that Leeds is a hotbed of Jedi activity, closely followed by Brighton & Hove and Bristol.
The most recent UK government census revealed that hundreds of thousands of Brits identify their religon status as 'Jedi Knight.'
The release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has sent memberships soaring, according to UK Jedi leaders, with over 1,000 new members joining every day.
You might feel a bit lonely in the Isles of Scilly, though, where only 14 people stated their religion as Jedi Knight.
Scroll down to click on the interactive map to find out how many Jedi Knights live near you.
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| A happy Jedi family could live on a street near you... |
The Jedi faith in the UK is organised into a leadership hierarchy, headed by the founder David Jones.
Members must complete a ten-step training program and subscribe to the newsletter.
Jedis may not be as easy to spot as you would think, however.
While church members have the choice to wear Jedi robes in everyday life, even UK Jedi top dog Jones, who goes by the Jedi name of Morda Hehol, admits they are “not really very practical”.
CLICK ON THE MAP BELOW TO FIND HOW MANY JEDI LIVE NEAR YOU
MAP CREATED BY ESRI UK
UK Jedis are keen to stress that they do not believe the Star Wars storylines are actually true.
They simply take inspiration from the underlying tenets of the film franchise's concept of a universal unifying Force.
They do not believe in organised prayer but regularly meditate to cleanse themselves of negative Force.
The Force probably isn't about to take over as the state religion any time soon, however
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| UK Jedi leader David Jones aka Morda Hehol |
The Top 10 local authorities where the Force is strongest with the highest number of Jedi followers are as follows:
1. Leeds – 2,812
2. Brighton & Hove – 2,636
3. Bristol – 2,310
4. Birmingham – 2,238
5. Cornwall – 2,169
6. Manchester – 1,946
7. Sheffield – 1,912
8. Wiltshire – 1,795
9. Liverpool – 1,398
10. Southampton – 1,388
In the 2011 census, Christianity was the largest religion with 33.2 million people followed by the 2.7 million British Muslims.
Jedi Knight was the largest single category after Buddhism with 247,743 people and Jewish with 263,346.
Previously Jedi membership peaked in the 2001 census when a whopping 390,000 people registered themselves as Jedi Knights.
It seems like the figures rise and fall according to the release of the Star Wars films.
The Phantom Menace in 1999 and 2002's Attack of the Clones inspiring Jedi fever and created a huge surge in memberships.
With the new trilogy set to run for many years and various spin-off films also announced, it looks like Jedi Knights are here to stay in the UK.
Personally we'd be more interested if those robes came in slightly better colours...
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is out now
Star Wars Jedi UK map created by mapping platform ESRI UK
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