The figures, published as part of a scheduled release of statistics, come in the same week as two Jewish men were attacked in London.
Convictions of people charged with race or religious hate crimes in England and Wales reached an eight-year high in 2025, figures show.
There were 6,163 convictions last year for a principal offence that was classed as racially or religiously aggravated, up 13% from 5,430 in 2024.
This is the highest total since the 6,179 convictions recorded in 2017, according to data published on Thursday by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The figures, included as part of a scheduled release of statistics, come in the same week as two Jewish men were injured in an apparent antisemitic attack in north London.
That incident is the latest in a series of attacks targeted at Jewish sites in the capital in recent weeks.
The MoJ figures are not broken down by types of religion.
More than two-thirds of the convictions in 2025 (70%) were public order offences, 15% were for violence against the person and 2% were for criminal damage and arson.
The remaining convictions were categorised as summary offences, which are generally deemed less serious and are tried in the magistrates’ court where there is no jury.
Press Association analysis of the MoJ data shows the most common type of conviction was for racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress using words or writing.
These offences come under the Public Order Act 1986 and can involve someone using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displaying any writing deemed threatening, abusive or insulting.
Crimes considered to be motivated by racial or religious hate can receive longer sentences.
The Home Office said this offence covers a wide range of incidents but could include for example shouting abuse in the street or spraying graffiti.
It is unlikely to cover online abuse such as posting on social media, as these are generally covered by the Online Safety Act or Malicious Communications Act, the department added.
Offences involving words or writing accounted for 3,996 of the 6,163 convictions in 2025, or nearly two-thirds (65%), according to the PA analysis.
The figure is up from 3,473 in 2024 and is the highest annual number of convictions for race and religious hate crime involving words or writing since current data began in 2010.
The average length of custodial sentence for someone convicted of this offence was three months.
There were 649 convictions in 2025 for racially or religiously aggravated common assault or beating, up from 610 in 2024 and the highest since 725 in 2019.
Figures released last year showed religious hate crime offences recorded by police in England and Wales had reached a record high.
The data, published by the Home Office in October 2025, showed Jewish people had the highest rate of religious hate crimes targeted towards them than any other faith group.
In the year to March 2025, there were 106 religious hate crimes per 10,000 population targeted at Jewish people.
The next highest rate was for hate crimes targeted at Muslims, with 12 per 10,000 population.
Not including those recorded by the Metropolitan Police, hate crimes targeted at Muslims were up by almost a fifth, from 2,690 offences recorded in 2023/24 to 3,199 offences in 2024/25.
The Home Office said there had been a “clear spike” in such offences in August 2024, which coincided with the Southport murders and the disorder which followed in several English towns and cities.
Separate figures published this year by the Community Security Trust (CST) found 2025 had the second-highest annual total recorded for anti-Jewish hate incidents, at 3,700, up 4% on the 3,556 incidents recorded in 2024.
The CST, which monitors antisemitism in the UK, said the annual record high remained at 4,298 antisemitic incidents reported in 2023, the year of the October 7 attack, which prompted a spike in recorded cases of anti-Jewish hate in the country.
Last year was also the first time more than 200 cases of anti-Jewish hate were recorded in every calendar month, the CST added.
The report noted that dozens of antisemitic incidents were reported in the aftermath of the deadly Manchester synagogue attack, some celebrating what had happened.
Worshippers Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed when Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, a Syrian-born British citizen, drove into the gates of the Heaton Park synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, in October last year, and then began attacking with a knife, wearing a fake suicide belt.
It was the first fatal antisemitic terror attack in the UK since the CST began recording incidents in 1984.
Meanwhile, anti-Muslim hate monitoring organisation Tell Mama previously said it received a total of 913 reports between June and September 2025, with references made to 17 mosques and Islamic institutions being targeted within that period.
The organisation said that in the seven days following Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally – which saw more than 100,000 people turn out in central London as well as around 5,000 anti-racism demonstrators on September 13 – it received reports of 157 anti-Muslim hate.
