At the end of World war II in 1945, the Jewish population of Great Britan numbered about 450,000 people but today it has declined to about 280,000. The decline is most probably attributed to several factors such as a lower birth rate among those with higher incomes, the departure of some British Jews to the new state of Israel, and the high degree of intermarriage with Christians. However, the past year witnessed an interesting turnabout due to the large number of children in Orthodox Jewish families and the total rose from 275,000 to 280,000.
The high birth rate among Orthodox Jewish families is pushing figures higher and it also means a much larger number of Jews in Britain are Orthodox. For example, in Manchester, half of all Jewish children under the age of five are from Orthodox families,and in Greater London they now account for 18% of the Jewish population.
There appears to be in many religions a growth in the number of people who are of an Orthodox leaning so it is not surprising this also manifests itself in the Jewish religion.