Faith Survey - Surveys of Religious Belief/Unbelief.

This web site is part of the Christianity in View series of web sites.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for...

Hebrews 11:1 (NASB)

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

twitter icon Twitter Updates



bullet blue Newsletter signup

Email address:


pdf icon View the Newsletter for December 2012.


bullet blue Poll

Should Church and State be completely separate?
Yes
Complete Separation.
No
There should be some relationship.
Don't Know
Unsure
Total:

bullet blueReligion - By Country

Click the image to enlarge.

» View Data


Majority Religion - by Country
Source: pewforum.org

bullet blueBelief in God(Europe)

Click the image to enlarge.


Eurobarometer Poll 2005
This map shows the result of an Eurobarometer poll conducted in 2005. The colours indicate the percentage of people in each country who answered "I believe there is a God" in the interview. The countries marked in grey were not included in the poll.

Survey News

bullet blueCatholics in England & Wales

20 May 2013

Data from the Catholic Directory with numbers of Catholics and Priests.


bullet blueUK Prayer Survey

26 March 2013

A 2013 Poll (Sample size: 2,015) commissioned by the Church of England, asked the following question:


Irrespective of whether you currently pray or not, if you were to pray for something at the moment, What would it be for?

  • 31% said "Peace in the world"

  • 27% said "A end to poverty in the world"

  • 14% of those polled said they would not pray for anything (10% of Women and 19% of Men surveyed).

bullet blueUS Catholic Surveys

8 March 2013

Added results from various surveys of American Catholics in 2012.


bullet blueCensus 2011 - Religion

11 December 2012

Results from the UK Census 2011 show that:

  • 59.3% of persons in England and Wales self-identify as 'Christian' (down from 71.7% in 2001). This equates to four million less Christians.

  • 25.1% of persons in England and Wales (14.1 Million) self-identify as having no religion at all (up from 14.8% in 2001).

bullet blueUS Religion Survey-2012

17 October 2012

The US religion Survey found that from 2007 to 2012:

  • The percentage of those who identified as 'Protestant' fell from 53% to 48%, but for Catholics the drop was only 1% (from 23% to 22%).

  • The percentage of persons who were not affiliated with any religion * increased from 11.6% to 13.9%.

* Defined as either Atheists, Agnostics or 'Nothing in particular'.


bullet blueReligion & Social Media

12 September 2012

A 2012 Survey found that:

  • 13% had downloaded a podcast of a sermon or listened to a sermon online.

  • 20% used Facebook several times a day, but 33% never used it.

Sample size: 1,026 and a margin of error of ±3.5%


bullet blueUS Religion

9 August 2012

A 2012 Survey by Gallup found that:

  • 44% of Americans have "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in "the church or organized religion", down from 68% in 1976.

  • Confidence was higher among Protestants (56%) than among Catholics (46%).

bullet blueMultinational Survey

27 June 2012

A 2006 Survey by Harris Interactive found that:

  • 28% of Americans and 56% of British persons felt that religion should be taught in state schools.

  • 32% of French persons claimed to be atheist.

  • 84% of Spanish persons believed in the separation of church and state.

Source: Harris Interactive Poll, 2006.


Unweighted Bases: France 2,134; Great Britain 2,090; Spain 1,991 and the United States 2,078.


bullet blueIrish Catholic Survey

12 June 2012

A survey conducted in May 2012 by IPSOS MRBI on behalf of the Irish Times found that:

  • 31% of Catholics attended Mass at least once a week, but 39% either never attended or occasionally attended Mass.

  • 35% of Women attend Mass once a week or more against 27% of Men.

  • 62% did not believe that during the Mass, the bread and wine are transformed into the actual body and blood of Christ against 26% who accepted the official Catholic teaching that it did so.

Sample size: ~ 1,000 adults of which 89% were Catholic and a margin of error of ±3%


bullet blueUS Protestant Survey

12 June 2012

A 2008 survey of Mainline Protestant clergy conducted by Public Religion Research found that:

  • 33% believed same sex couples should be allowed to marry, against 35% who believed there should be no legal recognition of such relationships. The remainder believed that civil unions were appropriate.

  • 13% believed Abortion should be legal in all cases.

  • 15% strongly agreed that the Bible is the inerrant word of God against 32% who strongly disagreed with this.

  • 27% support capital punishment against 66% who do not.

Sample size: 2,658 with a margin of error of ±2%


bullet blueBritish Social Attitudes

28 May 2012

The graph below tracks answers in the British Social Attitudes Survey from 1983 to 2009 with regard to religious affiliation.

Click the image to enlarge.


British Social Attitudes Survey: 1983-2009
Time series from the British Social Attitudes Survey showing the religion to which people consider themselves to belong.
Source: Wikipedia

bullet blueUK Christianity: 2005-15

19 April 2012

Added information on UK Christianity including denominations, trends and forecast data for 2015.


bullet blueUS Surveys

6 April 2012

Added details of various US Surveys on religious belief.


bullet blueIrish Census 2011

2 April 2012

The 2011 Irish Census results giving religious adherence by number.


bullet blueReligious Importance

10 March 2012

Percentage of those surveyed for whom religion is 'Very Important' in their lives.


Pew Global Attitudes Project - 2011


Statistics from the Pew Global Attitudes Project - 2011.


Sample sizes for each country: ~1,000 persons surveyed in 2011.


Note: 41% of American Men regarded religion as 'Very Important', against 59% of Women.


bullet blueLabour Force Surveys

4 March 2012

Details from the British Labour Force Surveys held from 2004-11 with results of religious affiliation and trends.


bullet blueMultinational Survey

27 February 2012

Added a new page from a multinational survey in 2010 questioning belief/unbelief in God across a number of countries.


bullet blueYou Gov Survey

21 February 2012

Added a new page with some statistics from a You Gov survey held in the UK in 2012.


Stones

bullet blueBritish Social Attitudes

12 February 2012

Added a new page with key statistics from the 2010 Survey.


bullet blueStatistics

22 January 2012

The following statistics are available:

bullet blueShare this Web Site

Share this web site on Facebook Share this web site on Google Share this web site on Twitter

bullet blueRSS Feed

RSS

bullet blueHTML/CSS Validation

Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional Valid CSS!

bullet blueQR Code

The QR code for this website

  • Text size:
  • A
  • A
  • A
» Advanced Search




candlesFaith Survey is a website where the visitor may answer questions on a variety of topics relating to religious belief or unbelief. Also included are the results of surveys held by such organisations as IPSOS/MORI.

Privacy Notice

All surveys are confidential - any answers given will not be disclosed to a third party, but will be stored for reference in a secure database.

The data gathered will be used to form the basis of future reports which will not contain any personally identifiable information such as names or email addresses.

You may also wish to read our privacy statement on the use of cookies on this website.

Please answer the survey questions in an honest and responsible manner.

Your participation is greatly appreciated in assisting the work and future development of this website.

 

The Surveys



pollBelief Survey

This survey gauges your level of religious belief/unbelief together with your opinions on some contentious issues within society.


pollOrthodoxy Survey

This survey is designed for Christians in the Orthodox (Eastern and Oriental) tradition.


pollReligion & Gender Survey

This is a short survey to compare the views of men and women on religious matters.

 

pollCatholic Survey

This survey is intended for completion by Roman Catholic Christians and includes questions on the Mass amongst others.


pollProtestant Survey

This survey is for completion by Protestant Christians including questions on justification and ecumenism.


pollWeb Site Comments

This offers an opportunity for comments on the Christianity in View series of web sites including this one itself.

 


Multinational Survey, 2010

Multinational Survey 2010

Source: Ipsos
Sample size: 18,192.

The full question was: In a world of globalization and rapid social change some say religion provides the common values and ethical foundations that diverse societies need to thrive in the 21st century [Positive impact] while others say that deeply held religious beliefs promote intolerance, exacerbate ethnic divisions, and impede social progress in developing and developed nations alike [Negative impact]... Which is closer to your own point of view?

» Further Survey Findings


UK Religion Poll, 2011

Which religion, if any, do you regard yourself as belonging to?
If Christian, which specific church would that be?

UK Religion Poll, 2011

Source: Opinion Research Business, 9-11 September 2011
Unweighted Base: 2,049.


European Social Survey, 2010

European Social Survey, 2010

Unweighted Base: 50,781.

* The full question was: 'Apart from special occasions, how often do you attend religious services?'

Note: The ESS data is a summary of answers from many of the countries of the European Union and also includes Israel, Croatia, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine.

Based on this survey, the maximum and minimum percentages for each answer are:

  • For 'Every Day': 2.1% in Ireland; 0.1% in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Norway and Sweden.
  • For 'More than once a week': 7.8% in Slovakia; 0.6% in Denmark.
  • For 'Once a week': 44.9% in Poland; 2.0% in Denmark.
  • For 'At least once a month': 27.0% in Greece; 3.4% in the Czech Republic.
  • For 'Only on special holy days': 41.8% in Ukraine; 12.2% in the United Kingdom.
  • For 'Less often': 37.2% in Finland; 3.8% in Poland.
  • For 'Never': 66.5% in the Czech Republic; 3.1% in Cyprus.

Source: ESS 2010.


Further findings from the ESS 2010

Click the arrow for more information for each country surveyed.

Country Population 1 Not Religious 2 Very Religious 2
Belgium 11,007,020 15.8% 5.4%
Flag of Belgium

Additional information

  • 13.5% of Belgians pray every day (apart from religious services) against 54.5% who never do so.
  • 58.5% of Belgians never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Bulgaria 7,364,570 9.8% 4.2%
Flag of Bulgaria

Additional information

  • 9.0% of Bulgarians pray every day (apart from religious services) against 28.5% who never do so.
  • 21.9% of Bulgarians never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Croatia 4,290,612 4.7% 10.0%
Flag of Croatia

Additional information

  • 33.1% of Croatians pray every day (apart from religious services) against 12.4% who never do so.
  • 10.6% of Croatians never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Cyprus 838,897 3 0.6% 20.1%
Flag of Cyprus

Additional information

  • 45.5% of Cypriots pray every day (apart from religious services) against 7.5% who never do so.
  • 3.1% of Cypriots never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Czech Rep. 10,562,214 35.3% 1.2%
Flag of the Czech Republic

Additional information

  • 4.5% of Czechs pray every day (apart from religious services) against 73.4% who never do so.
  • 66.5% of Czechs never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Denmark 5,529,888 12.4% 2.5%
Flag of Denmark

Additional information

  • 10.6% of Danes pray every day (apart from religious services) against 59.9% who never do so.
  • 39.0% of Danes never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Estonia 1,340,194 24.0% 3.7%
Flag of Estonia

Additional information

  • 6.8% of Estonians pray every day (apart from religious services) against 63.7% who never do so.
  • 35.0% of Estonians never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Finland 5,404,956 8.2% 3.2%
Flag of Finland

Additional information

  • 21.3% of Finns pray every day (apart from religious services) against 30.2% who never do so.
  • 26.6% of Finns never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
France 65,350,000 25.8% 3.3%
Flag of France

Additional information

  • 11.5% of French persons pray every day (apart from religious services) against 54.7% who never do so.
  • 51.1% of French persons never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Germany 81,799,600 18.8% 3.8%
Flag of Germany

Additional information

  • 14.1% of Germans pray every day (apart from religious services) against 38.9% who never do so.
  • 37.6% of Germans never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Greece 10,787,690 3.5% 8.9%
Flag of Greece

Additional information

  • 39.2% of Greeks pray every day (apart from religious services) against 6.1% who never do so.
  • 4.6% of Greeks never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Hungary 10,014,324 20.0% 6.5%
Flag of Hungary

Additional information

  • 18.0% of Hungarians pray every day (apart from religious services) against 39.8% who never do so.
  • 36.8% of Hungarians never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Ireland 4,588,252 7.3% 3.2%
Flag of Ireland

Additional information

  • 34.4% of Irish persons pray every day (apart from religious services) against 14.2% who never do so.
  • 15.6% of Irish persons never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Israel 7,859,300 14.6% 10.6%
Flag of Israel

Additional information

  • 25.4% of Israelis pray every day (apart from religious services) against 41.8% who never do so.
  • 41.4% of Israelis never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Netherlands 16,847,007 18.1% 3.9%
Flag of the Netherlands

Additional information

  • 23.1% of Dutch persons pray every day (apart from religious services) against 51.4% who never do so.
  • 54.9% of Dutch persons never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Norway 4,985,870 15.8% 2.6%
Flag of Norway

Additional information

  • 13.6% of Norwegians pray every day (apart from religious services) against 48.9% who never do so.
  • 39.5% of Norwegians never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Poland 38,501,000 3.3% 8.2%
Flag of Poland

Additional information

  • 41.4% of Poles pray every day (apart from religious services) against 8.8% who never do so.
  • 6.5% of Poles never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Portugal 10,576,252 5.6% 3.7%
Flag of Portugal

Additional information

  • 32.9% of Portugese every day (apart from religious services) against 18.2% who never do so.
  • 22.9% of Portugese never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Russia 143,030,106 9.9% 3.7%
Flag of Russia

Additional information

  • 14.2% of Russians pray every day (apart from religious services) against 37.6% who never do so.
  • 33.6% of Russians never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Slovakia 5,445,324 11.7% 15.3%
Flag of Slovakia

Additional information

  • 31.1% of Slovaks pray every day (apart from religious services) against 24.3% who never do so.
  • 25.1% of Slovaks never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Slovenia 2,050,189 12.8% 4.6%
Flag of Slovenia

Additional information

  • 12.7% of Slovenes pray every day (apart from religious services) against 40.4% who never do so.
  • 28.4% of Slovenes never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Spain 46,030,109 14.8% 3.7%
Flag of Spain

Additional information

  • 20.8% of Spanish persons pray every day (apart from religious services) against 37.6% who never do so.
  • 36.4% of Spanish persons never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Sweden 9,415,295 21.0% 3.0%
Flag of Sweden

Additional information

  • 9.3% of Swedes pray every day (apart from religious services) against 57.3% who never do so.
  • 40.8% of Swedes never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Switzerland 7,866,500 9.6% 6.8%
Flag of Switzerland

Additional information

  • 23.9% of Swiss pray every day (apart from religious services) against 31.7% who never do so.
  • 33.5% of Swiss never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
Ukraine 45,888,000 5.8% 3.4%
Flag of Ukraine

Additional information

  • 23.0% of Ukrainians pray every day (apart from religious services) against 22.2% who never do so.
  • 15.5% of Ukrainians never attend religious services apart from special occasions.
UK 62,262,000 17.9% 3.6%
Flag of the UK

Additional information

  • 17.5% of UK persons pray every day (apart from religious services) against 48.4% who never do so.
  • 50.9% of UK persons never attend religious services apart from special occasions.

1 Information taken from Wikipedia, 2012.
2 ESS Question asked: "How religious are you?"
3 Excludes Northern Cyprus. Population of whole Island: 1,099,341.


ESS Data


PDF IconHow Religious by Country

PDF IconPrayer by Country

PDF IconReligious services attendance by Country


International Social Survey Reports

Cross National Report, 2008
Cross National Report, 2008

Source: ISSP Report.


Global index of Religiosity

Surveys conducted in 2005 and 2012 by WIN-Gallup international among 51,927 persons and across 57 countries worldwide, give details of the number of persons who self-identify as 'religious' in response to the following question:

Question: Irrespective of whether you attend a place of worship or not, would you say you are a religious person, not a religious person or a convinced atheist?

Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism, 2005-2012

Source: WIN-Gallup International.

The survey also found that:

  • 59% of those surveyed worldwide claimed to be religious, with Ghana at 96% topping the list.
  • 13% claimed to be atheists, with many being located in Asia (47% of Chinese and 31% of Japanese identify as such).
  • 23% of persons identify as being 'non-religious'
  • The Graph above indicates a 9% drop in the religiosity index. The corresponding Atheism index showed an increase of 3%.

England & Wales Census - change from 2001 to 2011

England & Wales Census - change from 2001 to 2011


Data Table

  Total Males Females UK-Born
Total 56,075,912 27,573,376 28,502,536 n.a.
Christian 33,243,175 15,365,306 17,877,869 89.3%
Buddhist 247,743 116,646 131,097 39.7%
Hindu 816,633 421,054 395,579 33.3%
Jewish 263,346 128,313 135,033 81.1%
Muslim 2,706,066 1,409,290 1,296,776 47.2%
Sikh 423,158 214,043 209,115 56.6%
Other Religion 240,530 106,125 134,405 80.3%
No Religion 14,097,229 7,747,750 6,349,479 92.7%


Church of England and Gay Marriage

C of E opposition to Gay Marriage

  • 52% of women said it was wrong of the Church of England to oppose gay marriage as opposed to 33% who said it was right to do so.
  • The equivalent percentages for men were 46% and 42% respectively.
  • Among 18-24 year olds, 22% said it was right, a figure which rose to 57% among those who were 60 or over.

arrow up Top of page