In 2015 72.9 percent of the Norwegian population were members of the Norwegian Church. Ten years ago the proportion was at 82.7 percent.
The number of people taking part in services has also declined steadily, Fritanke writes. With the exception of 2011, it has declined every year since 2005. If all the years are added together, there are now 1 million fewer people at the services than in 2005, according to figures from Statistics Norway.
The number of people who are baptized has also decreased, both in absolute terms and as a proportion of population. The proportion who choose ecclesiastical confirmation has decreased as well but not as much as for the number of people baptited. The proportion who choose to marry in the church had also gone down marginally from 2014 to 2015, while the proportion of ecclesiastical funerals have remained stable.
Recently, it also has been revealed that the Norwegian Church has lost thousands of members in the weeks that have passed since the General Synod decided to allow same-sex couples to marry in church.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
