As of 2010, Christianity was the religion with the most followers worldwide, followed by Islam (Muslims) and Hinduism. In the forty years between 2010 and 2050, it is projected that the landscape of world religions will undergo some noticeable changes, with the number of Muslims almost catching up to Christians. The changes in population sizes of each religious group is largely dependent on demographic development, for example, the rise in the world's Christian population will largely be driven by population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, while Muslim populations will rise across various regions of Africa and South Asia. As India's population is set to grow while China's goes into decline, this will be reflected in the fact that Hindus will outnumber the unaffiliated by 2050. In fact, India may be home to both the largest Hindu and Muslim populations in the world by the middle of this century.

In 2020, around 28.8 percent of the global population were identified as Christian. Around 25.6 percent of the global population identify as Muslims, followed by 14.9 percent of global populations as Hindu. The number of Muslims increased by 347 million, when compared to 2010 data, more than all other religions combined.

This study, designed and completed by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), represents statistics for 149 religious bodies on the number of congregations within each county of the United States. Where available, also included are actual membership (as defined by the religious body) and total adherents figures. Participants included 149 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints and Unitarian/Universalist groups); two specially defined groups of independent Christian churches; Jewish and Islamic totals; and counts of temples for six Eastern religions.

It is important to understand the methodology producing these data and its limitations. While these data contain membership data for many religious groups in the United States, including most of the larger groups, they do not include every group. It is recommended that users read the notes below. Users may also want to refer to a paper by Roger Finke and Christopher P. Scheitle that explains the "adjusted" adherence rates included in the file.

Visit the "/us-religion/sources-for-religious-congregations-membership-data" Target="_blank">frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data.

This study, designed and carried out by the "http://www.asarb.org/" Target="_blank">Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), compiled data on 372 religious bodies by county in the United States. Of these, the ASARB was able to gather data on congregations and adherents for 217 religious bodies and on congregations only for 155. Participating bodies included 354 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints, Messianic Jews, and Unitarian/Universalist groups); counts of Jain, Shinto, Sikh, Tao, Zoroastrian, American Ethical Union, and National Spiritualist Association congregations, and counts of congregations and adherents from Baha'i, three Buddhist groupings, two Hindu groupings, and four Jewish groupings, and Muslims. The 372 groups reported a total of 356,642 congregations with 161,224,088 adherents, comprising 48.6 percent of the total U.S. population of 331,449,281. Membership totals were estimated for some religious groups.

In January 2024, the ARDA added 21 religious tradition (RELTRAD) variables to this dataset. These variables start at variable #9 (TOTCNG_2020). Categories were assigned based on pages 88-94 in the original "https://www.usreligioncensus.org/index.php/node/1638" Target="_blank">2020 U.S. Religion Census Report.

Visit the "https://www.thearda.com/us-religion/sources-for-religious-congregations-membership-data" Target="_blank">frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data sources.

Religious beliefs and moral attitudes.

Thopics: perceived change in violence on the streets, bribery, adultery and tax evasion during the last 10 years; justifyability of tax evasion (scale); justifyability of death penality; attitude towards: homosexual adoption, right to commit suicide, men more right for job than women; attitudes towards abortion in different circumstances (scale);
individual or public responsability for pensions; cuts in unemployment benefits; smoking ni public buildings; goals in education of children: indepdendence, obedience, creativity; attitudes towards income differeces; attitudes towards homeless people in neighbourhood; acceptance of nepotism (Kohlberg); Criteria for selecting patients for important surgery in hospitals; attitudes towards euthanasia; rules about good and bad; source of morality (scale); control over life; solving problems: individual vs. society; social orientation; volunteering: religious organizations, non-religious organizations; geographical mobility; residence of best friend; nationality of respondent; nationality of mother; nationality of father; attitudes towards migrants (ethnocentrism); political interest; party preference; least preferred party; reception of political news; concept of god; beliefs about life after death; salvation; conditions of salvation; theodizee (scale); respondent´s religiosity (self-assessment); beliefs influence daily life; beliefs influence important decisions; spiritual life; church attendance; frequency of praying; religious services: birth, marriage, death; conceptions of jesus; conceptions of the bible; dramatic change around millennium; denominational membership; closeness to church; women as priests; conversion experience; church attendance at age 12; transcendental experiences; possession of holy object; power of holy obejct; possession of talisman or lucky charm; power of talisman or lucky charm; consult horoscope; take horoscope into account in daily life; share of friends with different religion; perceived percentage of religious people in country; role of religion in world; attitudes towards: girls cover heads, take soft drugs, prevent blood transfusion, commit suicide; attitudes towards religious groups (enrichement, cause of conflict, other religious teachings, Jehovas witness, scientologist); truth in religion; religious symbols in schools; financial support: religious schools, religions; attitudes towards: oath with reference to God; consult religions in making laws, nurse may refuse legal abortion; attitutes towards science; desired influence of churches on politics; perceived influence of churches on politics;

Demographics: gender; age (year of birth); highest level of education; emloyment status; status of unpaid work; secondary job; marital status; steady life partner; partner´s highest level of education; partner´s religion; partner´s church attendance; number of children; household (number of children +18; 13-17; 5-12; less than 4); net household income; acceptance of cut in income for solidarity with poorest countries; community size; national ranking of community size; history of church membership;

Additionally coded: length of interview; year of interview.

Optional questions (not asked in all countries): importance of freedom; importance of equality; God concerned with every individual; God is valuable in humankind; life has meaning because of a God; sorrows have meaning if beliefs in a God; sorrows receive meaning from yourself; death is natural resting point; death is passage to another life; life has meaning if yourself give meaning; Virgin Mary was taken to heaven; believe in saints; father´s religion at age 12; father attend religious services at age 12; mothers´s religion at age 12; mother attend religious services at age 12; education in religious schools; profession (ISCO); partner´s profession (ISCO), community size (not grouped); pope hinders unity of Christians; religious services: sober; religious services: music and ceremonial clothes; pope should adapt his message; laity involvement; meaning of Christmas; month of interview; father´s highest level of education; mother´s level of education; number of household members

Additional questions in the BELGIAN questionnaire (only substantial questions. No country specific versions of questions from the masterquestionnaire): meaning of marriage in church; homosexuals may marry; light candle when enter church; water from Lourdes at home; pilgrimage; ...

Historically, Portugal has been a country of Catholics. The 2021 census demonstrated that this trend has not been inverted, as over 80 percent of the population in Portugal identified as Catholic. Protestant or Evangelic believers accounted for more than two percent of the population, while Jehovah's Witnesses constituted one percent of residents. Among non-Christian faiths, Muslims were the most representative group, making up 0.42 percent of the population.

Religious but generally not practicing the faith

In the same year, Catholics numbered more than seven million people spread throughout the country, conquering the religious majority in the mainland and in the two autonomous regions. Citizens without religion totaled more than 1.2 million, which made of them the second most numerous religious group in Portugal. Young people presented the same religious trend, with young Catholics being the most representative group, followed by non-religious. Among youngsters, the attendance of religious events was mostly conducted occasionally, while a quarter did not participate in such proceedings at all.

The contribute of immigration to the growth of Evangelical Christianity

Despite being the minority, non-Catholic Christian and non-Christian faiths have been growing in Portugal. In 2011, Evangelical believers totaled 75.6 thousand, more than doubling ten years after. Such growth was partially motivated by the increase in Brazilian immigration, as more than 61 percent of new members of Evangelical churches in 2023 were of Brazilian origin. In fact, Brazil was the place of origin of almost 82 percent of all the immigrant Evangelical Christians residing in Portugal. However, more than a quarter of new Evangelical Christians were Portuguese, which shows that other religions, namely Christian Catholicism, have been losing members to Evangelical Catholicism.

The biggest religious organization in Iceland in 2023 was the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, with more than 227,000 members. Ranked second was the Roman Catholic Church with about 15,000 members. Moreover, 73,000 had another religious stance or did not state their life stance, and 30,000 did not belong to any religious organization.

Little research has focused on the relationship between religion and climate change attitudes and behavior. Further, while there have been some studies examining the relationship between environmental attitudes and religion, most are focused on Christian denominations and secularism, and few have examined other religions such as Buddhism. Using an online survey of 1,927 Australians we examined links between membership of four religious groupings (Buddhists, Christian literalists and non-literalists, and Secularists) and climate change attitudes and behaviors. Differences were found across religious groups in terms of their belief in: (a) human induced climate change, (b) the level of consensus among scientists, (c) their own efficacy, and (d) the need for policy responses. We show, using ordinal regression, that religion explains these differences even after taking into account socio-demographic factors, knowledge and environmental attitude, including belief in man’s dominion over natur...

Contained within the 3rd Edition (1957) of the Atlas of Canada is a plate consisting of six condensed maps which show the principle religious denominations of the people living in Canada. The 1951 Census of Canada enumerated the religious denomination of which each person was either a member or to which he or she adhered or favoured. This plate shows the distribution of population on this basis of the six religious groups which were most numerous in 1951. These six groups are as follows: Roman Catholic, The United Church of Canada, The Anglican Church of Canada, Presbyterians, Baptists and Lutherans. Each map is accompanied by a pie chart showing the percentage distribution of each denomination by province and territory.

MP Religion & Assisted Dying Dashboard

This data powers a dashboard presenting insights into the religious affiliations and Assisted Dying voting patterns of UK Members of Parliament (MPs). It can be found here:

👉 https://davidjeffery.shinyapps.io/mp-religion/.

Please cite all uses of the data.

📊 What is this dashboard?

This dashboard presents insights into the religious affiliations and Assisted Dying voting patterns of UK Members of Parliament. It combines publicly available data to support transparency and understanding of Parliament’s composition.

📂 Where does the data come from?

The data is compiled from publicly available parliamentary records and voting data. You can download it directly from the link in the header or view it in the Raw Data tab of the dashboard.

🙏 How is religion determined?

There are three steps to determining religion. An MP is classified as having a religion based on the following criteria:

1. If the MP is a member of a religiously based group, they are classified as a member of that religion.

2. If a member has publicly spoken about their religion, they are classified as a member of that religion.

3. Finally, the text an MP swore in on is used to help infer their religion.

These sources are used in order of priority. For example, Tim Farron is a member of Christians in Parliament and has spoken about his religious views. However, he did not take the oath on the Bible, but made a solemn affirmation on no text. Regardless, he is still classed as Christian.

🧾 Variable Reference

What do those variable names mean?

• Member ID – member_id – A unique numeric identifier for each MP provided by Parliament.

• Name – display_as – The full display name of the MP.

• Gender – gender – The MP’s gender.

• Party – party – The full political party name.

• Party (Simplified) – party_simple – A shortened or cleaned version of the party name.

• Religion – mp_final_relig – The MP’s classified religion based on multiple criteria outlined above.

• AD: 2nd Reading Vote – ass_suicide_2nd – The MP’s vote (Yes, No, Abstain) on the Assisted Dying Bill 2nd Reading.

• AD: 3rd Reading Vote – ass_suicide_3rd – The MP’s vote (Yes, No, Abstain) on the Assisted Dying Bill 3rd Reading.

• LGBT Status – lgbt – Whether the MP is publicly identified as LGBT (LGBT.MP).

• Ethnic Minority – ethnic_mp – Whether the MP identifies as an ethnic minority.

• Religious Group: Christian – relig_christian – MP belongs to a Christian group (1 = Yes).

• Religious Group: Muslim – relig_muslim – MP belongs to a Muslim group (1 = Yes).

• Religious Group: Jewish – relig_jewish – MP belongs to a Jewish group (1 = Yes).

• Religious Group: Sikh – relig_sikh – MP belongs to a Sikh group (1 = Yes).

• Oath Taken – mp_swear – Whether the MP took the Oath or made an Affirmation.

• Oath Book – mp_swear_book – The specific religious text (e.g., Bible, Quran) used when swearing in.

• Inferred Religion – mp_inferred_relig – The religion inferred from the swearing-in text.

• Election Outcome – elected – Whether the MP was re-elected in the most recent election.

• Majority – majority – The MP’s vote share margin.

• Constituency Type – constituency_type – Type: Borough or County.

• Claimant Rate – cen_claimant – % of constituents claiming unemployment benefits.

• % White (Census) – cen_eth_white – Proportion of white ethnicity in the constituency.

• % Christian – cen_rel_christian – Constituency Christian population from the Census.

• % Buddhist – cen_rel_buddhist – Constituency Buddhist population.

• % Hindu – cen_rel_hindu – Constituency Hindu population.

• % Jewish – cen_rel_jewish – Constituency Jewish population.

• % Muslim – cen_rel_muslim – Constituency Muslim population.

• % Sikh – cen_rel_sikh – Constituency Sikh population.

• % No Religion – cen_rel_no religion – Constituents identifying as non-religious.

• % No Qualifications – cen_qual_none – Constituents with no formal qualifications.

• % Graduates – cen_qual_grad – Constituents with degree-level education.

• % Some Disability – cen_disab_some – Constituents reporting a form of disability.

✝️ Why are Catholics separate from Christians?

Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting we bring back the Test Acts. The logic here is that more granular data is better.

When swearing in, there are versions of the Bible specific to Catholics — typically the New Jerusalem Bible or the Douay–Rheims Bible — whereas if someone just asks for “the Bible”, they are given the King James Version and could be from any Christian denomination.

It would be a shame to lose that detail, so I provide the option to break out Catholic MPs separately.

📚 Where can I find more information about swearing in and the parliamentary oath?

The Parliament website has a great guide:

👉 https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/swearingin/

👤 Who created this dashboard?

This dashboard was created by Dr David Jeffery, University of Liverpool.

Follow me on Twitter/X or Bluesky.

❓ Why did you create this dashboard?

I needed to know MPs’ religion, and the text MPs used to swear in seemed like a valid proxy. This information was held by Humanists UK and when I asked for it, they said no.

So I did what any time-starved academic would do: I collected the data myself, by hand, and decided to make it public.

This dataset is a longitudinal version of the Churches and Church Membership in the United States studies from 1980 and 1990, and the Religious Congregations and Membership Studies from 2000 and 2010. It contains the adherent and congregation counts of 302 religious groups that participated in at least one of the 1980-2010 data collections. It is very important to understand how this file differs from its standalone counterparts, and its many limitations. Using these data for over-time comparisons without reading any documentation will likely result in inaccurate statistics. Data users are strongly urged to read the paper by Rachel Bacon, Roger Finke and Dale Jones that details all the changes made when creating the longitudinal file. Major changes made to the file include new variable naming schemes, new combined religious groups that correct for schisms and mergers, new adherent counts for the United Methodist Church, and count estimates for missing data among 40 groups. Users can download the paper "https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13644-018-0339-4" Target="_blank">here. Users can download the appendices here: "/ARDA/archives/AppendixA_RCMS.pdf" Target="_blank">Appendix A, "/ARDA/archives/AppendixB_RCMS.pdf" Target="_blank">Appendix B, "/ARDA/archives/AppendixC_RCMS.pdf" Target="_blank">Appendix C.

Visit the "/us-religion/sources-for-religious-congregations-membership-data" Target="_blank">frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data.

Erratum: An error in the variable indicating the total state population by year (TOTPOP) has been corrected. This variable now matches the RCMS state level files for the years 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010.

This study, designed and carried out by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB), compiled data on the number of congregations and adherents for 236 religious groups in each county of the United States. Participants included 217 Christian denominations, associations, or communions (including Latter-day Saints, Messianic Jews, and Unitarian/Universalist groups); counts of Jain, Shinto, Sikh, Tao and National Spiritualist Association congregations, and counts of congregations and adherents from Bahá'ís, three Buddhist groupings, four Hindu groupings, four Jewish groupings, Muslims and Zoroastrians. The 236 groups reported a total of 344,894 congregations with 150,686,156 adherents, comprising 48.8 percent of the total U.S. population of 308,745,538 in 2010.

Visit the "/us-religion/sources-for-religious-congregations-membership-data" Target="_blank">frequently asked questions page for more information about the ARDA's religious congregation and membership data.

The 2000 constitution of Cote d’Ivoire provides for religious freedom for all citizens. Approximately 40 percent of the population is Christian, another 40 percent is Muslim, and an estimated 25 percent of the population practice indigenous beliefs. Traditionally, the north has been associated with Islam and the south with Christianity. Throughout rural areas and central Cote d’Ivoire you will find people practicing indigenous beliefs. Many nominal Christian and Muslim practitioners practice a hybrid of Christian and indigenous or Muslim and indigenous beliefs. Nearly all Christians and Muslims belong to ethnic groups that believe in animism, fetishism, and witchcraft. Christian groups include Roman Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, Methodists, Assemblies of God, and Southern Baptists. The Evangelical Protestant Church of Cote d’Ivoire has over 1500 organized churches in its membership. The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro is a Roman Catholic basilica built in the late 1980s by then-President Felix Houphouet-Boigny. It is considered the largest church in the world. The USD 300 million price tag contributed to a significant portion to the total national debt of Cote d’Ivoire. Historically, Christian religions have been slightly favored by the government with the Catholic Church being the favorite. While Christian schools received subsidies from the Ministry of Education for decades, Muslim schools were only considered official schools and given similar subsidies beginning in 1994. Accusations of discrimination against Islamic and traditional religious communities concerned employment, national identity card renewals, and the aforementioned religious school subsidies. This resulted in government resentment from both indigenous and Muslim populations. A 1999 coup led political leaders to stir up religious divisions between the north and south. Alassane Ouattara, a Muslim northerner was banned from the 2000 election. This led to a 2002 troop mutiny and rebellion by discontent northern Muslims. Religious tensions escalated in 2010 with the presidential election results. Alassane Ouattara was elected president and incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo rejected the results and refused to step down. Ouattara is a northern Muslim, Gbagbo a southern Christian. The ensuing violence, destruction of property, and massive displacement of people divided Cote d’Ivoire into two regions, north and south. The underlying ethnic, religious, and national fragmentation of Cote d’Ivoire contributed greatly to this division. Only minor reports of discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice have occurred in 2012. ISO3 - International Organization for Standardization 3-digit country code ADM0_NAME - Administration level zero name NAME - Name of religious institution TYPE - Type of religious instituion CITY - City location of religious institution SPA_ACC - Spatial accuracy of site location 1- high, 2 – medium, 3 - low SOURCE_DT - Primary source creation date SOURCE - Primary source SOURCE2_DT - Secondary source creation date SOURCE2 - Secondary source

Abstract

The Religion Battery is a consolidated list of items focused on religion in the United States. The dataset includes responses from 1999-2024.

Methodology

The Religion Battery leverages the same methodology as the Gallup Poll Social Series (GPSS).

Gallup interviews a minimum of 1,000 U.S. adults aged 18 and older living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia using a dual-frame design, which includes both landline and cellphone numbers. Gallup samples landline and cellphone numbers using random-digit-dial methods. Gallup purchases samples for this study from Survey Sampling International (SSI). Gallup chooses landline respondents at random within each household based on which member had the next birthday. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 70% cellphone respondents and 30% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Gallup conducts interviews in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking.

Gallup weights samples to correct for unequal selection probability, nonresponse, and double coverage of landline and cellphone users in the two sampling frames. Gallup also weights its final samples to match the U.S. population according to gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, population density, and phone status (cellphone only, landline only, both, and cellphone mostly).

Demographic weighting targets are based on the most recent Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older U.S. population. Phone status targets are based on the most recent National Health Interview Survey. Population density targets are based on the most recent U.S. Census.

Usage

Previous versions of the Religion Battery have more rows and columns than the current version (v. 3.0). This is because the previous data releases contained fields unrelated to religion. The current release was cleaned/streamlined to reflect the topic of interest and isolate the surveys related to that topic.

For more information about included variables, please see

Supporting Files.

Bulk Data Access

Data access is required to view this section.

In practice, the government protects citizens from discrimination based on religious beliefs. A 100 score is earned where all the following conditions are met: 1) there is an official mechanism that receives and investigates complaints of religious discrimination (whether investigations are undertaken independently or in collaboration with other entities), 2) in the last year, the mechanism has been proactive and implemented programs designed to reduce/combat religious discrimination (such as conducting sensitization campaigns), and 3) the mechanism is accessible to most members of minority religious groups. A 50 score is earned where where any of the following conditions apply: 1) the mechanism exists, but it doesn’t always investigate complaints of religious discrimination, 2) it’s not always functional, or 3) some members of minority religious groups don’t have access to it due to geographic or other limitations. A 0 score is earned where at least one of the following conditions apply: 1) the mechanism to receive complaints of religious discrimination doesn’t exist, or 2) it exists but doesn’t investigate and is generally unresponsive. For variable descriptions, please refer to: https://www.africaintegrityindicators.org/data. For the methodology, please refer to: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e971d408be44753edfb976c/t/60a55f343d36117866628867/1621450563745/AII10+-+Methodology.docx+%281%29.pdf.

The share of the population in Denmark that is a member of the National Church declined over the past 10 years. In 2024, 4.25 million Danes were registered as members in the Danish National Church, meaning that 70 percent of the country's total population of six million people were members of the Church. 1.7 million people were not members of the Danish National Church that year. Every person who is baptized automatically becomes a member of the National Church, which in most cases happens through infant baptism. Since the Danish Reformation, the Danish National Church has been Evangelical Lutheran.

The study charted alternative spirituality, its significance and practice among the readers of the Finnish new age magazine 'Ultra'. The respondents' world views and religious beliefs were investigated as well as their values and interest in sprituality. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with several statements relating to religion, spirituality and different world views (e.g. "There exists a single indescribable divine truth that cannot be personified", "It is worth taking into account the position of the stars and planets when making big decisions"). Interest in spirituality was surveyed by asking the respondents which topics in Ultra they found most interesting (e.g. alternative medicine, religion, unusual phenomena), which views they thought were important sources of inspiration to them (e.g. Buddhism, Paganism, Humanism), and whether they had participated in different courses/lectures/sessions (tarot consultation, angel course) or practised yoga, meditation or shamanism. Reasons for practising meditation, prayer or equivalent were inquired, as were the frequency of church attendance, ways of celebrating important life events and belief in central Christian doctrines. The respondents' values were investigated by presenting them several statements describing a person with certain characteristics and asking how much they thought they were like the persons described (e.g. "Success is important to him/her. He/she wants his/her accomplishments to be noticed"). Background variables included the respondent's gender, year of birth, marital status, highest education attained, membership of a religious community, religious orientation (regardless of membership to a religious community), type of municipality of residence and the political party R had voted for in the previous elections.

The fifth International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) survey by COMPASS Research Centre at the University of Auckland. More information on our surveys, including data visualisations, can be found at International Social Survey Programme - The University of Auckland.A verbose rundown on topics covered follows.Attitudes towards religious practices. Assessment of personal happiness. Attitudes towards extramarital sex; attitudes towards homosexual relationships between adults; attitudes towards abortion in case of low family income; attitudes towards gender roles in marriage.Trust in institutions (government, business and industry, churches and religious organisations, courts and the legal system, schools and the educational system). Attitudes towards the influence of religious leaders on voters and government; attitudes towards the benefits of science and religion.Judgment on the power of churches and religious organisations; acceptance of persons from a different religion or with different religious views in case of marrying a relative.Attitudes towards religious extremists holding public meetings and publishing their views on the internet. Doubt or firm belief in God; belief in: life after death, heaven, hell, religious miracles, reincarnation, nirvana, supernatural powers of deceased ancestors. Attitudes towards a "higher truth" and a meaning to life.Religion of mother and father while growing up, and religion raised in; frequency of church attendance of father and mother and of respondent when young. Frequency of praying; have you listened to or read any holy scripture in the last 12 months? Presence of a shrine, altar, or other religious object in respondent’s home.Self-classification of personal religiosity and spirituality; attitudes towards benefits of practising a religion. Attitudes towards religion and sexual equality; attitudes towards government interference with religion and religious mixing, and whether religion is a concept of the past.General trustworthiness of people, and specific attitudes towards people of different religions, plus whether they are perceived as threatening or not. Participation in alternative spiritual practices; attitudes towards astrological practices; whether ever experienced a "born again" moment in life, attitudes towards the bible, and religious principles versus the law.Demography: sex; age; marital status; steady life partner; years of schooling; highest education level; current employment status (respondent and partner); hours worked weekly; occupation (ANZSCO) (respondent and partner); supervising function at work; working for private or public sector or self-employed (respondent and partner); if self-employed, number of employees; trade union membership; earnings of respondent and whole household; number of adults, children, and pre-school aged children in household; political party affiliation (left-right) and vote in 2017 general election; religion and denomination for Christian; attendance of religious services; self-placement on a top-bottom scale of society; type of area lived in; country of birth for mother, father, and respondent, and ethnic identification of respondent.

The Finnish Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. More than 65 percent of the inhabitants in Finland were part of the Christian community in 2023. The largest Christian community in Finland is the Evangelical Lutheran Church, followed by the Orthodox Church. However, around 1.88 million people were not members of any religious community. People from other religious groups amounted to roughly 20,500, followed by 24,057 from the Muslim community.

Immigration to Finland

While the number of immigrants to Finland remained below 35 thousand in the past decade, this number has started to increase noticeably since 2021. As of 2022, almost 50 thousand people immigrated to Finland, almost 73 percent more compared to the previous year. The significant increase in immigrants was caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine which started on February 24, 2022. That year, over six thousand people immigrated to Finland from Russia, over twice as many as in the previous year.

The Finnish population is aging

While the number of individuals belonging to the younger age groups in Finland declined from 2018 to 2023, the age group of 60 years and older continued to increase. By the end of 2023, its size was over 1.6 million. The growing number of individuals aged 60 or older reflects the change towards an older population structure of the country. In total, the population of Finland amounted to roughly 5.6 million as of 2023. The largest age groups were 20- to 39-year-olds, and 40- to 59-year-olds, which together made up over half of the population.

Christianity is, by far, the largest religion in Denmark with nearly 4.5 million members of the Danish People's Church or other Christian communities. Moreover, there are estimated to be around 300,000 Muslims in the country, but the exact number is not known. In general, estimating the exact number of people having a specific religious belief is difficult, and even for the members of the Danish People's Church, many do not actively participate in ceremonies.