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The religious situation according to European Value Research data

Religious self-identification

% 1999 2008 2017
Convinced atheists 2.9 4.5 5.4
Non-religious persons 10.9 11.8 9.5
Religious persons 79.9 77.8 78.3
Don’t know; without an answer 6.3 5.8 6.8

Importance of religion in life

% 1999 2008 2017
None at all 4.3 7.7 14.1
Not very much 16.4 19.7 20.6
Don’t know 2.0 2.4 1.4
Quite a lot 51.9 51.8 42.8
A great deal 25.3 18.5 21.1

Beliefs

% 1999 2008 2017
No Don’t know Yes No Don’t know Yes No Don’t know Yes
God 6.6 2.0 91.4 10.0 4.2 85.8 13.8 4.4 81.8
Life after death 28.2 12.3 59.5 36.8 13.2 50.1 34.3 14.9 50.9
Hell 36.7 14.3 48.9 48.4 11.8 39.8 45.4 14.5 40.0
Paradise 31.3 12.9 55.8 36.4 11.3 52.3 38.2 14.0 47.9

Trust in church

% 1999 2008 2017
A great deal 19.3 17.3 10.3
Quite a lot 43.5 35.1 28.1
Not very much 29.7 33.4 39.2
None at all 5.1 12.2 20.8
Don’t know; without an answer 2.4 1.9 1.6

Research data reveals a somewhat mixed picture. According to the religious self-identification indicator, Croatia is a highly religious country with no change. The percentage of those who identified as religious persons has been remarkably stable in the period 1999-2017, at almost 80%. Still, there has been a decline concerning the importance of religion in life and basic Christian beliefs. Religion was still important for the majority (63.9% in categories “quite a lot” and “a great deal” in 2017), but this was 13.3 percentage points less than in 1999. The same goes for basic beliefs. Belief in God was shared by 81.8% of the population in 2017, which was 9.6% percentage points less than in 1999. Beliefs in life after death, hell and paradise were shared by 40-50% of the population in 2017, with a similar change from 1999 to 2017 as noticed for the belief in God.

On the other hand, trust in the church indicated a notable change. It dropped from a very high level of 62.8% in 1999 (“quite a lot” and “a great deal”) to only 38.4% in 2017.

In sum, there have been small changes in personal religiosity (religious self-identification and importance of religion in life), but quite big changes concerning the relation to the church (church participation and trust in the church).

Source:
 Nikodem, K., Zrinščak, S. (2019) Between Distanced Church Religiosity and Intensive Personal Religiosity: Religious Changes in Croatian Society from 1999 to 2018. Društvena istraživanja 28(3):371-390 (in Croatian).
 Nikodem, K., Zrinščak, S. (2023.) Secularization, Individualization or Polarization? Religious Changes in European Catholic Countries. In: J. Baloban, S. Migles, K. Nikodem, S. Zrinščak (eds.) Changes in the Value System in Democratic Croatia (pp. 37-75). Zagreb: Katolički bogoslovni fakultet and Kršćanska sadašnjost (in Croatian).

D 13 April 2023    ASiniša Zrinščak

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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