Fewer children in Norway are baptized

Fewer children in Norway are baptizedOslo. Christening in the Church.Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / SCANPIX

Almost 900 fewer children were baptized in 2015, compared with the previous year. The proportion baptized last year  amounted to 57.8 percent of the children born in this country, which is a decrease of 1.5 percentage points from the previous year.
Compared with 2011,  the proportion of children baptized in relation to births has  decreased by 8.6 percentage points, according to the newspaper Vårt land.
– There is a tendency  that a steadily decreasing share of our members baptize their children,  the Church Council’s annual report which was discussed at the Council meeting on Monday says.
Preliminary figures show that   34 154 children were baptized in the Norwegian Church in 2015, nearly 900 fewer children than previous year.
In 2015 the Norwegian Church made baptism into one of the areas where they will focus their attention. In collaboration with dioceses the Church Council urged all church employees to put a lot of thought into their work in baptism and Christian education.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today