Christianity is the major religion in numerous African countries. As of 2024, around 96 percent of the population of Zambia was Christian, representing the highest percentage on the continent. Seychelles and Rwanda followed with roughly 95 percent and 94 percent of the population being Christian, respectively. While these countries present the highest percentages, Christianity was also prevalent in many other African nations. For instance, in South Africa, Christianity was the religion of nearly 85 percent of the people, while the share corresponded to 71 percent in Ghana. Religious variations across Africa Christianity and Islam are the most practiced religions in Africa. Christian adherents are prevalent below the Sahara, while North Africa is predominantly Muslim. In 2020, Christians accounted for around 60 percent of the Sub-Saharan African population, followed by Muslims with a share of roughly 30 percent. In absolute terms, there were approximately 650 million Christians in the region, a number forecast to increase to over one billion by 2050. In contrast, Islam is most prevalent in North Africa, being the religion of over 90 percent of the population in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya. Christianity in the world As opposed to other religions, Christianity is widely spread across continents worldwide. In fact, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe each account for around 25 percent of the global Christian population. By comparison, Asia-Pacific and North America make up 13 percent and 12 percent of Christians worldwide, respectively. In several regions, Christians also suffer persecution on religious grounds. Somalia and Libya presented the most critical situation in Africa in 2021, reporting the strongest suppression of Christians worldwide just after North Korea and Afghanistan.

In 2024, Ethiopia had the largest Christian population in Africa, with around 77.5 million people who identified as Christian. The second highest Christian population was in Nigeria, with 74.4 million people. Christianity has a significant presence in Africa, with its history on the continent dating back to the fourth century in Ethiopia. Furthermore, Christianity has spread throughout Africa with different denominations and traditions, taking root in various regions. Some of the largest Christian denominations in Africa include the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, and the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.

Between 2023 and 2024, the majority of Muslim immigrants living in the United States were born in another country, with 59 percent of U.S. Muslims born outside the United States. In contrast, most Christian immigrants were U.S. born, with both parents also born in the U.S. during the provided time period.

This statistic shows the giving levels across congregations in the United States in 2008, by faith tradition. As of 2008, about 11 percent of Catholic adherents give 10 percent or more of their net income regularly to church.

In 2025, North Korea was the country with the strongest suppression of Christians with an index value of 98. Somalia followed behind with 94, with Yemen in third. The World Watch List The index ranges from 0 (complete freedom) to 100 (total suppression). The survey for the World Watch List included various aspects of religious freedom: the legal and official status of Christians, the actual situation of Christians living in the country, regulations from the state as well as factors that can undermine the freedom of religion in a country. Christianity worldwideEven though Christianity is the largest religion worldwide, there are many areas of the world where Christians are persecuted. As the list shows, this is especially the case in countries with larger Muslim populations. Moreover, these countries are characterized by their authoritarian nature. The global distribution of religions varies strongly; whereas almost 100 percent of Hindus and Buddhists are found in the Asia-Pacific, Christians are spread around most world regions except the Middle East and North Africa.

Between Oct. 14, 2014, and May 21, 2015, Pew Research Center, with generous funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Neubauer Family Foundation, completed 5,601 face-to-face interviews with non-institutionalized adults ages 18 and older living in Israel.

The survey sampling plan was based on six districts defined in the 2008 Israeli census. In addition, Jewish residents of West Bank (Judea and Samaria) were included.

The sample includes interviews with 3,789 respondents defined as Jews, 871 Muslims, 468 Christians and 439 Druze. An additional 34 respondents belong to other religions or are religiously unaffiliated. Five groups were oversampled as part of the survey design: Jews living in the West Bank, Haredim, Christian Arabs, Arabs living in East Jerusalem and Druze.

Interviews were conducted under the direction of Public Opinion and Marketing Research of Israel (PORI). Surveys were administered through face-to-face, paper and pencil interviews conducted at the respondent's place of residence. Sampling was conducted through a multi-stage stratified area probability sampling design based on national population data available through the Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics' 2008 census.

The questionnaire was designed by Pew Research Center staff in consultation with subject matter experts and advisers to the project. The questionnaire was translated into Hebrew, Russian and Arabic, independently verified by professional linguists conversant in regional dialects and pretested prior to fieldwork.

The questionnaire was divided into four sections. All respondents who took the survey in Russian or Hebrew were branched into the Jewish questionnaire (Questionnaire A). Arabic-speaking respondents were branched into the Muslim (Questionnaire B), Christian (Questionnaire C) or Druze questionnaire (D) based on their response to the religious identification question. For the full question wording and exact order of questions, please see the questionnaire.

Note that not all respondents who took the questionnaire in Hebrew or Russian are classified as Jews in this study. For further details on how respondents were classified as Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze in the study, please see sidebar in the report titled "http://www.pewforum.org/2016/03/08/israels-religiously-divided-society/" Target="_blank">"How Religious are Defined".

Following fieldwork, survey performance was assessed by comparing the results for key demographic variables with population statistics available through the census. Data were weighted to account for different probabilities of selection among respondents. Where appropriate, data also were weighted through an iterative procedure to more closely align the samples with official population figures for gender, age and education. The reported margins of sampling error and the statistical tests of significance used in the analysis take into account the design effects due to weighting and sample design.

In addition to sampling error and other practical difficulties, one should bear in mind that question wording also can have an impact on the findings of opinion polls.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

In 2010 the Evangelical Alliance began a major research programme which would enable it to understand more fully the lives and concerns of its constituency of Evangelical Christians across the United Kingdom. In 2010 over 17,000 people, connected in some way with evangelical churches and networks, completed a questionnaire about their beliefs, religious practices, opinions on political and moral questions and on their involvement and activism in the community. Over 12,500 of them defined themselves as Evangelical Christians. Paper questionnaires were distributed at major Christian events and festivals, and through a sample of Evangelical Alliance member churches across the UK.

Subsequently a research panel, recruited in the first place from the 17,000 has been asked to take part in online surveys four times each year, with each wave of the survey concentrating on a specific theme or topic known to be of interest to the Alliance and/or its member organisations and churches. In the first online survey conducted around Easter 2011 over 1,150 people responded, in the Church Life survey carried out in November 2012 over 1,864 replies were analysed.

Further information is available on the Evangelical Alliance 21st Century Evangelicals webpages.

End User Licence and Special Licence data:
Users should note that there are two versions of each Twenty-First Century Evangelicals study. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (SN 7787), and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version (SN 7786). The SL version contains the text responses to the open-ended questions. The EUL version excludes the text responses to the open-ended questions.

The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard EUL. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. Therefore, users are strongly advised to order the standard version of the data.

Latest edition information:
For the fourth edition (February 2017), data and documentation for a new survey have been added. The survey has the theme of 'Religions, Belief and Unbelief' and covers views of secularism, religious diversity and interfaith relations. Further information is available from an article published in the IDEA magazine.


Main Topics:

The surveys carried out between 2010 and 2016 cover the following topics:

• Christian spirituality and learning
• employment issues
• life in the church
• experiences of and attitudes about schooling and education
• evangelism
• financial matters and poverty
• international and global links and issues
• use of old and new media
• experience of and views about contemporary families
• faith in politics and voting intentions and issues pre-2015 election
• local community and neighbourhoods
• basic beliefs, religious practices and civic involvement
• health and wellbeing
• ethical consumerism
• church leaders and their church’s approach to Evangelism
• different life experiences of the different generations, from
  boomers born before 1960 to millennials born in the 1990s
• 'what is Evangelicalism?' to coincide with the 170th anniversary of the foundation
• secularism, religious diversity and interfaith relations

In 2021, nearly ** percent of respondents aged 16 and over in Poland belonged to the Church or religious association, with the most significant percentage (** percent) belonging to the Catholic Church. Denominations in Poland In 2021, Christianity was the dominant religion in Poland, establishing 125 registered denominations. The Christian faith had over 33 million adherents. Also, Poland had 207 churches and religious associations in the same year, with Protestant denominations accounting for the most significant percentage. A forecast of the religious composition of Poland in 2010 shows changes in the number of affiliates by 2050. While there were over 36 million Christians in 2010, their number was expected to decrease to almost 29 million over the next 40 years. The study predicted an *****-fold increase in the number of Muslims. An unbound community is expected to double. Public opinion on religion and religiosity Although most Poles are Catholics, their religiosity is decreasing year by year. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the scale of participation in Sunday Mass and the sacramental life of Polish Catholics. The proportion of people attending Sunday Mass dropped to **** percent in 2021. Due to the pandemic restrictions, the number of people receiving Holy Communion also decreased.Most Poles agreed with the presence of crosses in public buildings in 2021. In contrast, only ** percent of respondents favored priests instructing people on how to vote in elections. Almost every second respondent in Poland had a negative opinion about Muslims in 2019.

In 2010 the Evangelical Alliance began a major research programme which would enable it to understand more fully the lives and concerns of its constituency of Evangelical Christians across the United Kingdom. In 2010 over 17,000 people, connected in some way with evangelical churches and networks, completed a questionnaire about their beliefs, religious practices, opinions on political and moral questions and on their involvement and activism in the community. Over 12,500 of them defined themselves as Evangelical Christians. Paper questionnaires were distributed at major Christian events and festivals, and through a sample of Evangelical Alliance member churches across the UK.

Subsequently a research panel, recruited in the first place from the 17,000 has been asked to take part in online surveys four times each year, with each wave of the survey concentrating on a specific theme or topic known to be of interest to the Alliance and/or its member organisations and churches. In the first online survey conducted around Easter 2011 over 1,150 people responded, in the Church Life survey carried out in November 2012 over 1,864 replies were analysed.

Further information is available on the Evangelical Alliance http://www.eauk.org/church/resources/snapshot/" title="21st Century Evangelicals">21st Century Evangelicals webpages.

End User Licence and Special Licence data:
Users should note that there are two versions of each Twenty-First Century Evangelicals study. One is available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement (SN 7787), and the other is a Special Licence (SL) version (SN 7786). The SL version contains the text responses to the open-ended questions. The EUL version excludes the text responses to the open-ended questions.

The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard EUL. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. Therefore, users are strongly advised to order the standard version of the data.

Latest edition information:
For the fourth edition (February 2017), data and documentation for a new survey have been added. The survey has the theme of 'Religions, Belief and Unbelief' and covers views of secularism, religious diversity and interfaith relations. Further information is available from an article published in the IDEA magazine.

Australia has become an increasingly secular nation over the past five years. This trend has posed challenges to the Religious Services industry. This trend has continued, despite high immigration rates from regions with strong religious adherence aside from 2020-21 which was a full year of international border closures. Overall, the decline in adherence to most traditional Christian faiths is outstripping growth in adherence to most non-Christian religions. As a result, revenue generated by religious groups is expected to decline at an annualised 5.1% over the five years through 2023-24, to $3.9 billion, with margins declining to 8.6%.Cost-living-pressures have weighed on religious donations over the three years through 2023-24. Rising interest rates, inflation and rental costs have put many consumers under financial strain limiting their ability to contribute to their religious organisation. Declines have been mostly seen among lower- and middle-income earners who are struggling to cover rental costs and service their mortgages. Higher income earners are more insulated against changing economic conditions and have largely sustained their donation spending. As these higher income earners account for almost 70% of donations, industry revenue has been protected from steeper declines. These trends are expected to contribute to a 1.2% decline in industry revenue in the current year.Despite the nation becoming increasingly secular, forecast growth in household discretionary income, strong growth in net migration, and positive consumer sentiment are projected to boost donations to religious organisations over the next five years. However, falling adherence and attendance at religious services are anticipated to limit revenue growth. Overall, industry revenue is forecast to increase at an annualised 1.6% over the five years through 2028-29, to reach $4.2 billion.

Are different religions associated with different social, cognitive, and emotional tendencies? Although major world religions are known to encourage social interactions and help regulate emotions, it is less clear to what extent adherents of various religions differ in these dimensions in daily life. We thus carried out a large-scale sociolinguistic analysis of social media messages of Christians and Buddhists living in the United States. After controlling for age and gender effects on linguistic patterns, we found that Christians used more social words and fewer cognitive words than Buddhists. Moreover, adherents of both religions, similarly used more positive than negative emotion words on Twitter, although overall, Christians were slightly more positive in verbal emotional expression than Buddhists. These sociolinguistic patterns of actual rather than ideal behaviors were also paralleled by language used in the popular sacred texts of Christianity and Buddhism, with the exception that Christian texts contained more negative and fewer positive emotion words than Buddhist texts. Taken together, our results suggest that the direct or indirect influence of religious texts on the receivers of their messages may partially, but not fully, account for the verbal behavior of religious adherents.

This Religion and State-Minorities (RASM) dataset is supplemental to the Religion and State Round 2 (RAS2) dataset. It codes the RAS religious discrimination variable using the minority as the unit of analysis (RAS2 uses a country as the unit of analysis and, is a general measure of all discrimination in the country). RASM codes religious discrimination by governments against all 566 minorities in 175 countries which make a minimum population cut off. Any religious minority which is at least 0.25 percent of the population or has a population of at least 500,000 (in countries with populations of 200 million or more) are included. The dataset also includes all Christian minorities in Muslim countries and all Muslim minorities in Christian countries for a total of 597 minorities. The data cover 1990 to 2008 with yearly codings.

These religious discrimination variables are designed to examine restrictions the government places on the practice of religion by minority religious groups. It is important to clarify two points. First, these variables focus on restrictions on minority religions. Restrictions that apply to all religions are not coded in this set of variables. This is because the act of restricting or regulating the religious practices of minorities is qualitatively different from restricting or regulating all religions. Second, this set of variables focuses only on restrictions of the practice of religion itself or on religious institutions and does not include other types of restrictions on religious minorities. The reasoning behind this is that there is much more likely to be a religious motivation for restrictions on the practice of religion than there is for political, economic, or cultural restrictions on a religious minority. These secular types of restrictions, while potentially motivated by religion, also can be due to other reasons. That political, economic, and cultural restrictions are often placed on ethnic minorities who share the same religion and the majority group in their state is proof of this.

This set of variables is essentially a list of specific types of religious restrictions which a government may place on some or all minority religions. These variables are identical to those included in the RAS2 dataset, save that one is not included because it focuses on foreign missionaries and this set of variables focuses on minorities living in the country. Each of the items in this category is coded on the following scale:

0. The activity is not restricted or the government does not engage in this practice.
1. The activity is restricted slightly or sporadically or the government engages in a mild form of this practice or a severe form sporadically.
2. The activity is significantly restricted or the government engages in this activity often and on a large scale.

A composite version combining the variables to create a measure of religious discrimination against minority religions which ranges from 0 to 48 also is included.

ARDA Note: This file was revised on October 6, 2017. At the PIs request, we removed the variable reporting on the minority's percentage of a country's population after finding inconsistencies with the reported values. For detailed data on religious demographics, see the "/data-archive?fid=RCSREG2" Target="_blank">Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project.

About this dataset

Context

This list ranks the 18 cities in the Christian County, IL by Hispanic White population, as estimated by the United States Census Bureau. It also highlights population changes in each cities over the past five years.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates, including:

• 2019-2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
• 2018-2022 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
• 2017-2021 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
• 2016-2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
• 2015-2019 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

Variables / Data Columns

• Rank by Hispanic White Population: This column displays the rank of cities in the Christian County, IL by their Hispanic White population, using the most recent ACS data available.
• cities: The cities for which the rank is shown in the previous column.
• Hispanic White Population: The Hispanic White population of the cities is shown in this column.
• % of Total cities Population: This shows what percentage of the total cities population identifies as Hispanic White. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.
• % of Total Christian County Hispanic White Population: This tells us how much of the entire Christian County, IL Hispanic White population lives in that cities. Please note that the sum of all percentages may not equal one due to rounding of values.
• 5 Year Rank Trend: TThis column displays the rank trend across the last 5 years.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Subject of the Study: Church statistical data are offered as long time series. The data are on the following topics: life events in the church (membership, entries and exits, church weddings, etc.), church personnel, and additionally data on socio-economic indicators (population-structure, family-structures, GDP, income development, tertiarisation, urbanisation, etc.) The primary investigators Pollack and Krueggeler specify their research question as follows:They dwell on a publication of Franz-Xaver Kaufmann, who stated a significant weakening of religious traditions for both great denominations in Germany. He associates this development with modernizing living conditions. The researchers Pollack and Krueggeler dedicated themselves to analyze this statement of Kaufmann. They compiled time series for Germany for the period from 1949 until 2010 for enabeling the correlation of data on church life with data on socio-economic trends in Germany. Using this data compilation, a detailed description of the large Christian Churches’ development is possible. Additionally, key determinants of religious change in modern societies can be analyzed in detail, namely for West Germany, the former German Democratic Republic, and for Germany after reunification as well. Thus, a further data compilation is provided for the analysis of and the discussion on secularization in the context of modernization and individualization. Two further remarks should be done in this context: a) On the one hand in this data compilation the variables of ecclesiality and religiosity are mainly dependent variables. The reversed aspect of church influence on societal developments is therefore systematically underestimated. Such a perspective is primarily due to the information gathered here and it is not based on any kind of a theoretical intention. The authors point out, that for the reversal of this perspective other sufficient data, materials, and analysis are available. b) The time period of 1949 to 2010 is not sufficient for the analysis of historical long-termed processes. If religious factors are one of the most effective factors in the longer term in the context of societal development, they could only be understood adequately in a long-term perspective. Therefore, historical traditions, which go far back to the 19th century, must be considered for the adequate understanding of the recent development of the two major churches. Time and Territory of Investigation:1949 to 2010 for the territory of the former German Democratic Republic (East-Germany), the former territory of the Federal Republic of Germany (West-Germany), and for the reunified Germany in the borders after the 3rd October 1990. Sources:Each table contains detailed references to the data presented in it.In the case of some tables also detailed annotations are given to sources and data, which can be found in the source- and note part of the study description. In this case, in the table header there is a detailed indication of the study description (Ausführlich siehe in der Studienbeschreibung unter ´Verwendete Quellen´ / Ausführlich siehe in der Studienbeschreibung unter ´Anmerkungen´. = In detail, refer to the study description under ´Used resources´ / In detail, refer to the study description under ´Remarks´). The used sources specified in the tables are listed again bibliographically in an overview. This overview contains the different sources and publications which have been used by the authors for their data collection. The data has been mainly collected from the editions of the Church Yearbook of the Evangelical Church (Kirchliches Jahrbuch für die Evangelische Kirche (KJb)) and from the Church Handbook of the Catholic Chirch (Kirchliches Handbuch der Katholischen Kirech (KH)). These are church-own surveys at the level of parishes and regional churches or dioceses. The data are supplemented with statistics of the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, with data of the statistical online portal ‘statista’, and with data of scientific publications. A detailed description of the object of investigation, the characteristics of the used sources, the survey methods, as well as a detailed source- and annotation list is available via the downloadable PDF-Document. Data tables in histat (Topic: Population): 1. Church Life 1.01 Church Membership / Religious Affiliation1.02 Joinings, Rejoinings and Leavings1.03 Official Church Acts or Occasional Services: Baptisms1.04 Official Church Acts or Occasional Services: Confirmation/ First Communion1.05 Official Church Acts or Occasional Services: Wedding1.06 Official Church Acts or Occasional Services: Burials1.07 Church Visits on Sundays 2. Church Personnel2.01 Protestant Church2.02 Catholic Church 3. Socio-Economic Variables 3.01 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)3.02 Income Development and Employment3.03 Tertiarisation3.04 Urbanisation3.05 Expenditure on Social Security Systems3.06 Social Inequality3.07 Structure of Population and of F...

Life on the Breadline has been the most extensive, evidence-based empirical analysis of Christian responses to UK poverty since the 2008 global financial crash yet developed by academic theologians. The project emerged from the project team's shared conviction that empirically-based rigorous theological research could be a resource for progressive social change in the face of the growing poverty and inequality experienced during the Age of Austerity. The project aimed to analyse the the impact that austerity policies have had on the nature, scope, approach and impact of Christian engagement with poverty in the UK and the ways in which churches have used their enduring localised social capital in tackling poverty.

Bringing theology and the social sciences together in dialogue, Life on the Breadline drew on a triangulated approach to primary research - Six ethnographic case studies were developed in London, Birmingham and Manchester [focusing on different aspects of poverty and various Christian traditions], the national Church leaders of fifteen Christian denominations in the UK were interviewed and regional Church leaders from across the UK were invited to take part in an online survey. More than 300 regional Church leaders were invited to take part. Participants were selected on the basis of their position as strategic public leaders and representative figures within the Church in their region. In some cases regions were geographically smaller than others. This was dependent on the different ways in which denominations structured and spread their geographical presence. In this we were guided by the ways in which Churches structured themselves. Where Churches did not respond reminders were sent. Ultimately a total of 104 regional Church leaders from more than twenty Christian denominations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales took part in the survey and responded to a wide range of qualitative closed and open questions about the nature of poverty in their region since the 2008 financial crash, their perceptions about the role UK government policies have played in relation to poverty, their denomination's engagement with poverty at national, regional and local levels and the impact of their anti-poverty social action.

In the wake of the 2008/9 financial crash, resulting global recession and the 'age of austerity' introduced by the 2010-15 government, poverty in the UK rose more dramatically than in any other G7 nation. The number of people relying on foodbanks to feed their families rose from 25,000 in 2008 to 1,200,000 in early 2017. Between 2010 and 2016 the number of people in the UK earning less than a 'living wage' grew from 3,400,000 to 4,900,000 and the number of people on 'zero hours' contracts grew to 905,000. By early 2017 more than 30% of British children were living in poverty, 25% of the population were living in fuel poverty and rough sleeping had grown to 4,134, double the 2010 figure. Economic poverty is one aspect of more wide-ranging social exclusion. However the project will demonstrate that broader patterns of social exclusion are largely driven by poverty. In the face of this dramatic growth in poverty and inequality third sector and faith-based organisations have been in the vanguard of the ongoing struggle against social exclusion.

Christian communities have been involved in challenging urban poverty since the industrial revolution. However during the 'age of austerity' they have become increasingly important players as a result of their enduring relationships in local communities. Michael Hoelzl and Keith Ward (2008) refer to this as the 'new visibility of religion'. A key arena within which this 'new visibility' has been seen is in relation to rising levels of poverty and social inequality. 'Life on the Breadline: Christianity, Poverty and Politics in the 21st century' is the first interdisciplinary theological analysis of poverty in the UK since the financial crash. It will increase the awareness of the scope and impact of Christian engagement with poverty amongst government policy-makers and within wider society, enrich social policy and research and enable more effective faith-based action on poverty across urban Britain.

This project will analyse the nature, scope, extent and impact of Christian engagement with poverty. Six ethnographic case studies of Christian NGOs will be developed, interviews of 120 regional church leaders in Birmingham, London and Manchester and two National Poverty Consultations with 50+ national church leaders attending will enable the project to generate the most extensive evidence-base to date of Christian engagement with poverty in the UK. Fieldwork will analyse two differing approaches to tackling poverty - 'caring' and 'campaigning' - in order to assess whether the 'age of austerity' has affected the nature and impact of Christian engagement with poverty and the values that underpin it.

The project will develop a critical dialogue...

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Feelings toward buying on credit; information heard about changing economy; expected price/inflation changes during next 12 months; government's job performance in fighting inflation/unemployment in next year or two; belief in God/universal spirit; belief that God observes and rewards/punishes our actions; amount of consolation found in beliefs; statements which describe feelings about the Bible/Jesus Christ/life after death/the Devil/origin of man; religious experience; description of experience; validity of 10 Commandments for today's society; ability to name any 5 Commandments; identification of Jesus' statement to Nicodemus; frequency of Bible reading; church/synagogue attendance; Pentecostal/ charismatic Christian affiliation; speaking in tongues; first/second religious authority one would side with if testing religious beliefs; source to turn to if facing problem concerning: personal development, finances, shelter, food, clothing, alcohol, drugs, religion; first/second most important personal need; frequency of discussing religious beliefs

The survey charted the professional motivation, identity and religiosity of Children's Instructor students in Christian Institutes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland. This dataset is based on the first collection wave in a cohort study that followed students studying for an upper secondary qualification in Child Care, Education and Family Welfare as they progressed in their studies. The participating students started their studies in 2014. FSD collections also include the second (FSD3262) and third (FSD3263) waves of this study. The study was part of the project "Student's Development into Church Professionals" (Kasvu kirkon työntekijäksi), funded by Kirkon koulutuskeskus (adult education school of the Evangelical Lutheran Church) and Church Research Institute. First, the respondents were asked about their reasons for applying to Children's Instructor training (e.g. wanting to help others or work with children and interest in religious questions) and to what extent they agreed or disagreed with statements concerning working for a parish (e.g. the reliability of a parish as an employer and trust in the future of educational work in a parish). Next, participation in voluntary work and parish activities was charted with questions relating to the reasons for volunteering and the kinds of parish activities, e.g. Sunday school as a child or assisting with church service, that the respondent had taken part in. Attitudes towards racism and migrants (foreign nationals in Finland) were examined with statements concerning, for example, whether the respondents thought that migrants have made Finnish culture more varied and whether they would accept a foreign national as their co-worker or friend. The survey also charted the respondents' attitudes towards life and future (e.g. how happy they felt and whether they were worried about the future) as well as how strong was their sense of belonging to different groups such as family, friends, online communities, parish and Finnish society. The respondents' religiosity was investigated with questions about religious affiliation, religious identity (e.g. whether they identified themselves as spiritual persons and/or conservative in their religion) and their own religiosity compared to church doctrine (e.g. whether they believed in the resurrection of Christ and the existence of Heaven and Hell). Spirituality was charted by asking the respondents to what extent they agreed or disagreed with statements concerning, for example, alternative medicine, astrology and meditation. Finally, the presence of religion and religiosity in the respondents' lives was charted with questions concerning the frequency of e.g. praying, reading the Bible and attending church services as well as how often they discussed religious issues and with whom. Background variables included the respondent's age, length of residency in Finland, previous degrees, educational institution, household composition at present and during the respondents' primary and lower secondary education and whether the respondent aimed for curriculum-based or competence-based qualification.

Attitude towards faith and the Catholic Church. Faith practice. Questions about World Youth Day. Media communication.

Topics: 1. Attitude towards faith and the Catholic Church: self-assessment of religiosity; belief in a life after death; influence of religion and faith on everyday actions; religious practice: frequency of praying, reading the Bible and meditating; greater interest of young people in religion or the Catholic Church. Questions of faith more than it appears (religious spiral of silence); frequency of attending church services; lasting positive influence of e.g. family, friends, etc. on the personal relationship with the church; attitude towards the Roman Catholic Church as an institution; contact with the parish; function in the parish; type of function; activity in youth work; area of youth work (sport, politics, church (association, grouping), other).

1. Questions about the World Youth Day: Earlier participation in a World Youth Day; frequency of participation; visit of the World Youth Day alone or accompanied (friends, youth group of the parish, others); members of the group already known beforehand; image of the Pope (e.g. head of the Catholic Church, infallible, representative of God on earth, role model, etc.).); importance of the Pope´s participation in World Youth Day; participation in World Youth Day even without the Pope´s participation; importance of international meetings at World Youth Day; importance of various elements of the program (catechesis, welcome celebration with the Pope, sacrament of reconciliation, youth festival, Way of the Cross, pilgrimage, vigil, closing service with the Pope); previous experiences at the World Youth Day (part of a living faith community of Catholic Christians, most important religious community experience, extra-ordinary life, community feeling); personal motivation for participation in the World Youth Day (for examplee.g. traveling together with friends, experiencing many young Christians, making new friends, etc.).

2. Media communication: sources of information about World Youth Day; credibility of reporting; communication with third parties about World Youth Day reports in the media; interlocutors; mobile phone ownership at World Youth Day; purpose of mobile phone use; general mobile phone ownership; frequency of mobile phone use for: Telephoning, sending SMS, chatting, photographing and filming videos; frequency of use of different media; source of information about the Global Village; frequency of visits to the Global Village; membership in the Catholic Rural Youth Movement; knowledge of the Catholic Rural Youth Movement; activity in environmental protection; institution named; motivation for visiting the Global Village; visited offers of the Global Village (Energiebauernhof, climate expedition, MIJARC tent, others).

Participants from Energiebauernhof, climate expedition and MIJARC tent were additionally asked: Positive food for thought on the topics preservation of the environment (Energiebauernhof), climate change (Klimaexpedition) and international solidarity (MIJARC Tent) through the visit; evaluation of the visit as a special experience; participation in one of the actions; actions mentioned.

Demography: sex; age; current occupation; job title; highest school-leaving certificate or current type of school attended; denomination; marital status; federal state.

This statistic shows the sources of congregational income of churches in the United States in 2008, by church size. As of 2008, trust funds, investments, bequets were the source of about 41 percent of income of small churches with up to 100 members.