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La démographie religieuse en Bulgarie

Historically, Bulgaria belongs to the group of countries in which the majority of the population is connected with Eastern Orthodoxy.
The first census in Bulgaria took place in 1887. Until 1946, the religious affiliation of Bulgarian citizens was registered on the basis of their birth or marriage certificates.
After World War II, the Orthodox believers in Bulgaria were about 85% of its population and the members of the second religious community in importance, Muslims, were about 13%.

During the communist regime, the questions about religious affiliation were dropped from the census questionaries. They appeared again in the censuses of 1992 and 2001. In this regard, the National Statistical Institute issued special instructions. They defined the religious affiliation of Bulgarian citizens as “a historically determined belonging of the individual or of his parents and grandparents to a community sharing specific religious views”. The answers to this question were mandatory and the option “irreligious” was not possible in the questionary.

In 2011, the rules were changed. People were free to answer or not to the questionary sections about their religious affiliation, ethnicity and mother tongue. As a result, 21.8 per cent of the Bulgarian citizens did not fill up the section of their religious affiliation. Therefore, the last column in the table below reveals significant deviations in the size of religious communities when compared with the data from previous censuses. The proportion of each religious community is estimated as a relation between the total number of the population (7,364,570) and the number of people who have declared themselves adherents of a particular religious tradition.

Ethnic communities in Bulgaria (2011)

Ethnic group Total number Mother Tongue
Bulgarian Turkish Romani
Total* 6,611,513 5,631,759 604,246 280,979
Bulgarian 5,604,300 5,571,045 15,955 7,528
Turkish 585,024 18,975 564,858 549
Roma 320,761 24,033 21,440 272,710
Armenian 6,360 1,047
Jewish 1,130 897
Walachian 3,598 169
Karakachan 2,511 465
Russian 9,868 183 8
Greek 1,356 98
Macedonian 1,609 411
Romanian 866 37
Ukrainian 1,763 33
Other 19,260 7,390 383 19
No ethnic self-identification 53,107 6,976 1,592 166

Sources :

Since then, the share of the different religious communities is estimated based on the number of people who have declared their religious affiliation and not in relation to the total population.
Furthermore, the methodology for the 2021 Census contains another novelty as it placed the focus on the affiliation of Bulgarian citizens with the major Abrahamic religions : Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. This change had an effect on the country’s religious majority – namely the adherents of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, now united with the believers from the other Christian denominations. Therefore, while the 2011 Census presents separately the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant denominations, the one of 2021 integrates all these Christian denominations into a single religious community – the Christian one. According to the 2021 census, 4,219,270 Bulgarian citizens have identified themselves as Christians, i.e., 67.84% of the country’s population, 638,708 (9.80%) – as Muslims, and 1,736 – as Jews. (See debati.bg). In fact, the new approach corrects the previous discrepancy in the statistical data on religious demography where the adherents of Islam were counted together under the general name “Muslims” despite their belonging to different Muslim groups (Sunni, Shia, and Alevi).
By September 7, 2021, the Christian community in Bulgaria consisted of 4,091,780 Orthodox, 69,852 Protestants, 38,709 Catholics, 5,002 Apostolic Armenians, as well as 13,927 believers belonging to other unidentified Christian denominations (see debati.bg).

Bulgaria’s Demography by Major Religions (1900-2021)

Census 1900 1900 1946 1946 1992 1992 2021 2021
Population 3,744,283 7,029,349 8,487,317 6,519,789  %
Religion  %  %  %
Christianity 3,066,901 81.9 6,047,596 86.0 7,359,216 86.7 4,219,270 64.7
Islam 643,300 17.2 938,418 13.3 1,110,295 13.1 638,708 9.8
Judaism 33,663 0.9 43,335 0.6 2,580 0.0 1,736 0.0
Other 419 0.0 1,802 0.0 6,745 0.1 6,451 0.1
No religion 305,102
Unable to identify any 8,481 259,235
Unwilling to answer 472,606
Not presented 616,681

Bulgaria’s Religious Demography (Non-mandatory disclosure of religious identity, 2011-2021)

Census 2011 2021
Population 7,364,560 6,519,789
Religion Numbers % Numbers %
Orthodox 4,374,135 59.39% 4,091,780 62.76%
Protestants 64,476 0.87% 69,852 1.08%
Catholics 48,945 0.66% 38,709 0.59%
Apostolic Armenians 1,649 0.02% 5,002 0.08%
Muslims 577,139 7.84% 638,708 9.80%
Jews 586 1,736 0,03%

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 23 mai 2023    ADaniela Kalkandjieva

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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