LONDON 

Islamophobic hate crimes in England and Wales have skyrocketed last year, according to statistics revealed on Thursday.

Muslims became the most targeted religious group among others last year, according to the Home Office figures.

The number of religious hate crimes recorded by police and targeting Muslims was 3,459 in the year ending March 2022, showing a 42% increase since last year.

The number of hate crimes against Jewish people was 1,919 in a year, up 23% from the previous year, making them the second most targeted religious group.

Hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales have skyrocketed for the year ending March 2022 by 26%.

According to government figures, there were 155,841 hate crimes on record – the biggest increase since the year ending March 2017.

The majority of hate crimes were racially motivated, accounting for over two-thirds of all such offenses (70%; 109,843 offenses).

The racially motivated hate crimes increased by 19% between the year ending March 2021 and the year ending March 2022 as the crime number for the previous year was 92,063.

Religious hate crimes increased by 37% (to 8,730 offenses), up from 6,383 in the previous year – the highest ever recorded number since the time series began in the year ending March 2012.

Disability hate crimes have also increased by 43% from 9,945 to 14,242 over the last year. This was the largest percentage annual increase seen since the year ending March 2017.