Romanians say they are religious, but not exactly churchgoers, barometer says

Over 90% of Romanians consider themselves as religious and faithful, yet they are hardly churchgoers, according to the first barometer of the religious life in Romania, conducted by LARICS Sociological Research Centre in partnership with the State Secretariat for Cults and the Romanian Academy’s Institute of Political Sciences and International Affairs.

Romanians say they are going to church only once a week, occasionally or just at the big holidays.

The barometer shows that 90.4% of the Romanians consider themselves religious. Out of them, 63.8% replied to the question “yes, of course”, while 26.6% answered “rather yes”.

Regardless of their denomination, Romanians believe in the existence of God (90.2%). Only 5.7% of the respondents say that “this question cannot be answered so easily”. 68.2% said they pray on a daily basis.

36.1% of Romanians go to the church to attend religious services once a week or more frequently, 21.7% only occasionally, for certain holidays or family events, 18% only for big holidays and 17.1% around one time a month.

As for the religion taught in schools, 72.8% of respondents agreed to it, while 22.3% of parents are the ones who decide on that. 4.8% say there should be no religious education in schools.

The barometer also reveals that 70% of the Romanians trust the Church mostly. The Army ranks second in the respondents’ confidence, the Romanians Academy comes third, and the City Hall-fourth. The Police ranks fifth and Health Ministry- sixth.