The number of Star Wars fans who gave their religion as "Jedi" on their 2001 census returns would have made it the fourth largest "faith" in England and Wales, it was revealed yesterday.

If it had been recognised as a separate category, Sikhism would have been pushed into fifth place.

But the Office for National Statistics decided to incorporate the 390,000 Jedi - or 0.7 per cent of the population - with the atheists.

Registrar General for England and Wales Len Cook said: ''We have put them among the 7.7 million people who said they had no religion."

An e-mail campaign encouraged fans of the science fiction saga to write Jedi as their faith in the mistaken belief that if 10,000 did so, it would be recognised as an official religion.

Including false information on census forms can lead to prosecution. However, Star Wars aficionados are unlikely to face court proceedings because the religion question was voluntary.

Star Wars religious fervour appears to have missed the North-East. Easington, in County Durham, had the least number of Jedi followers in the country, closely followed by the Sedgefield constituency of Prime Minister Tony Blair.