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The religious landscape in Poland

Portray of the believers

Religious faith is a fairly constant attribute of the Polish society. For the last 20 years it has changed little and remained very high. According to regular CBOS surveys, since the late-1990s over 90% of respondents (between 93% and 97%) describe themselves as believers. Within this group, about one-tenth (lately one in eleven or one in twelve) describes his or her faith as strong. The proportion of people who describe themselves as moderate or strong non-believers remains on a relatively low level (3%-7%); however, since 2005 this group has become more numerous.
The level of religious practice was relatively stable in 1997-2005, and declined afterwards. Since 2005, the proportion of respondents attending religious service at least once a week fell from 58% to 51%, while the number of people who never go to church rose from 9% to 12%. More people attend religious service irregularly (increase from 33% to 37%).

As far as gender is concerned, women prevail among strong believers (64% of them are women and 36% are men), while among non-believers the proportions are almost exactly opposite (37% are women and 63% are men).

Male Female
Strong believers (N=390)* 36% 64%
Believers (N=3554) 48% 52%
Non-believers (N=322) 63% 37%

*Aggregated data from four national surveys conducted in the period April-July 2013 allow for characterising the people who describe themselves as non-believers and comparing them with strong believers and believers. Aggregated random samples representative for adult population of Poland. Total N= 4266.

Source: "Non-believers: who they are, what are their norms and values", Polish Public Opinion, 134, October 2013.
More information about this topic can be found in the CBOS report in Polish: "Non-believers: who they are, what are their norms and values", Polish Public Opinion, 134, October 2013. Fieldwork for national sample: April-July 2013.

Non-believers in Poland

When age is taken into account, the non-believers are predominantly young. Over two-fifths are in the age 18-34 years. In contrast, over half of people whose faith is strong are at least 55 years old.

Age of respondents
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 and more
Strong believers (N=390) 7% 11% 16% 12% 16% 38%
Believers (N=3554) 12% 21% 17% 17% 18% 15%
Non-believers (N=322) 20% 24% 18% 13% 14% 11%

The majority of people admitting to having no religious faith are residents of big cities (of at least 100,000 residents). The reverse is true about the believers and strong believers: three-fifths live in villages and small towns.

Place of residence
rural Urban below 20.000 20.000-99.999 100.000-499.999 500.000 and more
Strong believers (N=390) 40% 17% 18% 16% 9%
Believers (N=3554) 41% 16% 19% 15% 9%
Non-believers (N=322) 16% 11% 11% 27% 27%

People declaring no religion are also characterised by their level of education. Three-quarters of non-believers have at least secondary education, whereas about half of believers and strong believers have primary or basic vocational education.

Level of education
primary Basic vocational Secondary tertiary
Strong believers (N=390) 30% 21% 30% 19%
Believers (N=3554) 22% 27% 33% 18%
Non-believers (N=322) 12% 13% 39% 36%

Life conditions and religious faith

Education is related to the material living conditions of the respondents. Non-believers evaluate them better than believers.

Evaluation of material living conditions
bad average good
Strong believers (N=390) 17% 50% 33%
Believers (N=3554) 15% 46% 39%
Non-believers (N=322) 10% 10% 50%

Source: "Non-believers: who they are, what are their norms and values", Polish Public Opinion, 134, October 2013.

More information about this topic can be found in the CBOS report in Polish: "Non-believers: who they are, what are their norms and values", Polish Public Opinion, 134, October 2013. Fieldwork for national sample: April-July 2013.

An analysis of religious belief and national belonging in Central and Eastern Europe (May 2017) is available on the Pew Research Center website (full report available as a pdf document).

D 30 June 2016    AMichał Zawiślak

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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