Hate crimes targeting Muslims in England and Wales rose by 15% in the year ending March 2026, according to new Home Office statistics.

The number of religious hate crimes targeting Muslims increased from 4,479 to 5,132, accounting for nearly half (46%) of all recorded religious hate crime offences.

The Home Office recorded a spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes in September 2025, coinciding with a series of protests and incidents of public disorder. A further peak occurred in March 2026, which the report links to the US war on Iran.

As in previous years, public order offences were the most commonly recorded hate crimes targeting Muslims and Jewish people. These included offences involving behaviour intended or likely to cause fear, alarm or distress.

Overall, police recorded 146,825 hate crimes in the year to March 2026, a 7% increase on the previous year.

More than half of all hate crime offences were recorded as racially or religiously aggravated offences.

Religious hate crimes rose 13% to 11,419 offences, while race-related hate crimes increased by 9% to 107,926.

The Home Office said the figures “may suggest there has been a genuine increase” in hate crime, driven by rises in offences linked to race and religion.

Among victims of race- and religion-related hate crimes whose ethnicity was recorded, 34% were identified as Asian, 24% as Black and 29% as white.

The Home Office noted that hate crimes recorded against white victims were likely to include xenophobic abuse directed at people born outside the UK.

Hate crime is defined as any criminal offence perceived by the victim or another person to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone because of a personal characteristic.