- Summary
- Adherents
- Religious Freedom
- Socio-economic
- Public Opinion
Religious Adherents1 |
Finland | Northern Europe | World |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baha'i | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Buddhist | 0.1% | 0.3% | 6.8% |
| Chinese Universalist | 0.1% | 0.1% | 6.8% |
| Christian | 90.1% | 81.3% | 33.1% |
| Confucianist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Ethnoreligionist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3.8% |
| Hindu | 0.0% | 0.7% | 13.6% |
| Jain | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Jewish | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| Muslim | 0.5% | 2.2% | 21.8% |
| Shintoist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Sikh | 0.0% | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| Spiritist | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Taoist | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Zoroastrian | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Neo-religions | 0.1% | 0.1% | 1.0% |
| Atheist | 2.0% | 2.4% | 2.1% |
| Agnostic | 7.2% | 11.9% | 9.9% |
Religious Demography
The country has an area of 130,127 square miles and a population of 5,240,000. Approximately 83 percent of the population belongs to the ELC and 1 percent to the Orthodox Church. There are 7 Roman Catholic congregations with an estimated 8,000 registered members, and 2 Jewish congregations with approximately 1,500 members. Pentecostal church communities registered as associations have an estimated 45,000 members. However, only a fraction of Pentecostal churches are registered, and the actual number of Pentecostal worshippers is higher. There are approximately 20,000 Muslims, compared with 1,000 a decade ago. Their numbers continue to grow due to immigration and a high birthrate. Of these, approximately 15,000 are Sunni and 5,000 are Shiite. The largest group is Somali; there are also communities of North Africans, Bosnians, peninsula Arabs, Tartars, Turks, and Iraqis. There are four major Muslim organizations: the Muslim Community in Finland, the Tampere Muslim Community, Shi'a Muslims, and the Multicultural Dawa Center of Islam. Membership in other nonstate religions totals approximately 60,000. An estimated 10 percent of the population does not belong to any religious group. The rapid modernization of society has modified attitudes toward religion. Society has become more secular, political and social philosophy has diverged from religious philosophy, and religious belief has largely become a private matter. However, research indicates that most citizens still consider religion and spirituality very significant in their lives. Despite the small number of persons who attend church services regularly, citizens have a high regard for the church and its activities, consider their membership important, and still value church ceremonies. Most citizens are baptized and married in the church, confirmation classes are common, and most citizens choose religious burial services. In the past several decades, as many as 400,000 have left the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC). Reports estimated that 40,000 left the ELC during the reporting period, an increase of 7,000 over the preceding period and an all-time high. Separation from the church has risen markedly since implementation of the Religious Freedom Act of 2003, which made separation much easier. The rate of separation is much higher among younger citizens; in October 2006 a so-called "youth barometer" found that two-thirds of citizens aged 15 to 29 believed in God, but only 40 percent regarded themselves as religious. In surveys, the most common reason offered for leaving the church was a perceived lack of personal significance of church membership, especially among younger respondents. Some very religious people also left the church, stating that the modern church's message did not meet their deeper spiritual needs. Others said religion was of such a personal nature that they did not need the church. Approximately 10 percent gave the church tax as their reason for leaving the ELC. Catholics, Muslims, and Jews, as well as "nontraditional" religious groups, freely professed and propagated their beliefs. Such groups as Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) have been active for decades.2
Sources
Note: All country histories and flags were obtained from The World Factbook, 2008.
1. The World Christian Database (WCD) is based on the 2600-page award-winning World Christian Encyclopedia and World Christian Trends, first published in 1982 and revised in 2001. This extensive work on World religion is now completely updated and integrated into the WCD online database. Designed for both the casual user and research scholar, information is readily available on religious activities, growth rates, religious literature, worker activity, and demographic statistics. Additional secular data is incorporated on population, health, education, and communications. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
2. The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.
