Policy Focus

Poland and Italy most religious in Europe, study finds

A major new study on religious belief has found that rates of religiousaffiliation are highest in Poland and Italy, while France has a highpercentage of non-religious individuals.

It also found that more that 25 per cent of Europeans who do not belong to a church nevertheless consider themselves “religious”.

The Religion Monitor study was carried out by the German foundation Bertelsmann Stiftung, which interviewed over 21,000 people in 21 countries.

Commenting on the findings, which were presented at a news conference in Brussels on Wednesday, Liz Mohn, vice chair of the foundation, said they show that it still makes sense to refer to Europe as the "Christian west".

She said, "The survey reveals the degree to which the globe’s religions are in fact comparable.

"Clearly, despite the many centuries of divergent development and their resulting differences, the world’s faiths are similar in a multitude of ways."

The survey also found that three-quarters of the total number of people surveyed consider themselves religious, with 25 per cent deemed to be highly religious.

The survey argues that Europeans are “highly tolerant”, with nine out of 10 agreeing with the statement that every religion is likely to contain a kernel of truth.

Sixty eight per cent agree with the proposition that a god or some sort of divine entity exists, and they believe in life after death in some form.

One in three Catholics is highly religious, but only somewhat less than one in five Protestants (18 per cent).

In the UK, two-thirds of those questioned described themselves as belonging to a religion such as Christianity or Islam.

In Britain, according to the survey, 36 per cent claim to pray weekly or more often, while 39 per cent say that they never pray.

David Voas, a professor of population at the University of Manchester, said, "A very large majority of respondents in the UK claimed to believe that one should have an open mind to all religions."