Religious opinions, beliefs and attitudes

Subjective religiosity and belief

In contrast to the continuous decline in religious participation and practice, the data show a slightly different picture in regard to subjective religiosity and religious belief. Concerning religious self-assessment, 54,3% in West Germany considered themselves as a religious person in 1990; a figure which remained comparatively stable until 2008. In East Germany, the decrease in individual religiosity is also connected to a decrease in subjective religiosity. Here, the percentage of respondents considering themselves as religious declined from 32,3% in 1990 to 17,2% in 2008.
Furthermore, the belief in God or a Higher being is also rather widespread among the German population compared to the participation rates. Altogether, data for 2000 show that 74% believe in God or a Higher being, with Catholics being the most religious (84% of Catholics, 71% of Protestants). However, 52% of the respondents without religious affiliation also stated to believe in God or a Higher being.

Pollack, Detlef und Gert Pickel (2003). „De-Institutionalisierung des Religiösen und religiöse Individualisierung in Ost- und Westdeutschland“. In: Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 55: 447-474.

Religious self-assessment (in %)

Question: “Independently of whether you go to church or not, would you say you are…”

Source: World Values Surveys/European Values Studies; own calculations.

D 14 September 2012    AMatthias Koenig ASabine Trittler