Principal religious denominations
In 2016 (latest statistics), about 4 million Finns belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. This corresponds to 72.0 per cent of the population. The proportion of the population of the country that belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church has however, gradually decreased. Fifty years ago the proportion was almost twenty percentage points higher. The second largest religious organization is the Finnish Orthodox Church with about 58,000 members (1.1% of the population). Even though there are numerous other registered religious organizations in Finland, their membership is no more than 1.6% of the population. One fourth of the population do not belong to any registered religious organization, however this does not mean that they all are non-religious. For example, the majority of Muslim immigrants and Pentecostals are not registered members of any religious organization.
Table 1. Population of Finland by religious affiliation 1920–2016 (%)
Year | Lutherans | Orthodox | Others | Those not belonging to registered movements |
---|---|---|---|---|
1920 | 98 | 1,6 | 0,3 | 0,03 |
1940 | 95,9 | 1,8 | 0,3 | 2,0 |
1960 | 92,4 | 1,4 | 0,6 | 5,5 |
1980 | 90,3 | 1,1 | 0,7 | 7,8 |
2000 | 85,1 | 1,1 | 1,1 | 12,7 |
2010 | 78,3 | 1,1 | 1,4 | 19,2 |
2013 | 75,3 | 1,1 | 1,5 | 22,1 |
2015 | 72,9 | 1,1 | 1,6 | 24,3 |
2016 | 72,0 | 1,1 | 1,6 | 25,3 |
Table 2 illustrates the number of members in various religious groups. However, the table includes only the largest religious groups. In 2016, there were 126 registered religious communities in Finland.
Table 2. Membership of major religious communities 1990-2016
1990 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2016 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Evangelical Lutheran Church | 4,389,230 | 4,408,381 | 4,373,556 | 4,207,192 | 3,960,453 |
Finnish Orthodox Church | 52,627 | 55,692 | 57,829 | 58,449 | 57,891 |
Jehovah’s Witnesses | 12,157 | 18,492 | 18,329 | 19,094 | 17,979 |
Evangelical Free Church of Finland | 12,189 | 13,474 | 13,711 | 14,485 | 15,132 |
Roman Catholic Church in Finland | 4,247 | 7,227 | 8,446 | 10,640 | 13,528 |
Muslims* | 810 | 1,199 | 4,239 | 9,393 | 13,944 |
Pentecostals* | 1,992 | 6,281 | 8,548 | ||
Adventists | 4,805 | 4,316 | 4,015 | 3,648 | 3,205 |
LDS-Church | 2,883 | 3,307 | 3,301 | 3,225 | 3,235 |
Baptists | 2,565 | 2,395 | 2,422 | 2,356 | 2,476 |
Methodists | 1,251 | 1,260 | 1,256 | 1,301 | 1,424 |
Jews | 1,006 | 1,157 | 1,184 | 1,208 | 1,110 |
* The number of Pentecostals is approximately 50,000, however the majority of Pentecostal parishes are not registered and therefore there is not as detailed information as about the registered religious communities. The number of Muslims is about 70,000, however only 14,000 are registered members.
Statistics Finland, 31.12.2016.
updated by Kimmo Ketola