Religious opinions, beliefs and attitudes
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 (...)
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).
13 April 2023 Siniša Zrinščak
Religious situation – comparative data
According to the Pew Research 2015-2017 data and based on the composite index of four indicators (importance of religion, worship attendance, frequency of prayer, belief in God), Croatia was at (...)
