Religions in Norway

In Norway as of 2018, 69.9% of the population are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as compared to 96% in the 1960s. Kevin Boyle’s 1997 global study of freedom of religion states that “Most members of the state church are not active adherents, except for the rituals of birth, confirmation, weddings, and burials. Some 3 per cent on average attend church on Sunday and 10 per cent on average attend church every month.”

Other religious groups operate freely and people are also free not to be affiliated with any religion or life stance. Approximately 17.4% are not members of any official religious or philosophical communities, while about 12.7% of the population are members of other religious or philosophical communities outside the Church of Norway. Catholics and Muslims are each about 3% of the population and have been rising in numbers in recent years. About 1.8% of the population lists the Norwegian Humanist Association as a life stance instead of a religion. Orthodox, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs are present in very small numbers, together comprising about 1 percent of the population.

However officially belonging to a religion does not necessarily reflect actual religious beliefs and practices. In 2005, a survey conducted by Gallup International in sixty-five countries indicated that Norway was the least religious country in Western Europe, with 29% counting themselves as believing in a church or deity, 26% as being atheists, and 45% not being entirely certain.

According to the Eurobarometer Poll of 2010:-

• 22% of Norwegian citizens responded that “they believe there is a God”.
• 44% responded that “they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force”.
• 29% responded that “they don’t believe there is any sort of spirit, God or life force”.
• 5% gave no response.

According to 2016 data from annual social-cultural study Norwegian Monitor (Norsk Monitor), 39 percent of Norwegians responded with “No” to the question to the question “Do you believe in God?”, while 37 percent said “Yes” and 27 percent said that they did not know. The survey also showed that women are more likely to believe in God than men and that faith in God is stronger among the old than the young.

In a 2018 European Values Study 47.1% of the Norwegian population answered “Yes” to the question “Do you believe in God?” as opposed to the 52.9% that answered “No”. The country ranked fourth among the 30 countries surveyed.