Only 56 percent of Norwegian 15 year olds chose to be confirmed in the church in 2018. This is the lowest proportion registered by Statistics Norway.
When measurements began in 2001, 68 percent of 15 year olds chose church confirmation.
At the same time, the proportion of humanistic confirmations was in the air. In 2018, 19 percent of the 15 year olds were confirmed in the Human-Ethical Association, and a new record is expected in 2019.
“In the last ten years, the proportion who have confirmed themselves in the Norwegian Church has fallen steadily. Especially since 2011, we see a steep decline in the proportion who choose church confirmations,” says Øyvind Bolsgård, senior advisor in the section for education and cultural statistics in Statistics Norway.
The figures are part of a larger trend around church participation. Several people also drop out of the church, fewer attend church services and fewer are baptized and marry in the church.
Last year, for the first time, more people were married civil than in a church, and while 73.9 percent of all born children were baptized in 2006, the share had fallen to 51 percent in 2018.
Sogn og Fjordane is the county with the highest proportion of church confirmations, with as much as 82 percent. The neighboring county Møre og Romsdal follows second place with 74 percent, and Oppland is the county with the third largest share – 69 percent.
The lowest proportion of confirmations in church is in Oslo, where only 27 percent of 15 year olds were confirmed in the church last year.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
