 Norway
Compared with other countries and statesChurch attendanceAs of the early 21st century, Norway has one of the lowest church attendance rates in the world. Below is a table that compares Norway with other governmental divisions in regular church attendance for the early 21st century. In contrast to 250,000 regular churchgoers in the whole of Norway in 2004, 43,500 attend Lakewood Church in the United States each week, and 23,000 attend Hillsong Church in Australia each week.
The U.S. state of Alabama has a population roughly equal to that of Norway, but church attendance in Alabama is as much as 11 times higher than in Norway.
| Country / State | Regular church attendance | Regular church attendance | 
Public opinionWorld Values Survey| Religious Affiliation/Identification | 1982 | 1990 | 1996 | 2005 | | Percent belonging to a religious denomination | 95.9% | 90.2% | 90.7% | – | | Percent identifying as a religious person | 48% | 47.5% | 46.9% | 41.3% | | Percent raised religious | – | 45.7% | 41.4% | – |
| Religious Behaviors | 1982 | 1990 | 1996 | 2005 | | Percent attending religious services at least once a month | 15.4% | 12.7% | 12.5% | 10.8% | | Percent that meditate or pray | 61.6% | 64.4% | – | 33.2% | | Percent active in a church or religious organization | – | – | 8.3% | 8.3% |
| Religious Beliefs | 1982 | 1990 | 1996 | 2005 | | Percent believing in God | 75.5% | 65% | 68.8% | – | | Percent believing in heaven | 51.9% | 43.8% | 46.7% | – | | Percent believing in hell | 23.5% | 19.2% | 19.7% | – | | Percent believing in life after death | 50.7% | 44.7% | 47.3% | – | | Percent believing that there are clear guidelines on good and evil | 31.4% | 31.6% | 29.1% | – | | Percent believing that politicians who do not believe in God are unfit for public office | – | – | – | 3.8% | | Percent believing that religious leaders should not influence people's vote | – | – | – | 8.9% | | Percent believing that things would be better if there are more people with strong religious beliefs | – | – | – | 6.2% | | Percent believing church gives answers to people's spiritual needs | 64.3% | 55% | – | 48.2% | | Percent believing church gives answers on family life problems | 36.5% | 29.1% | – | 16.1% | | Percent believing churches give answers to moral problems | 47.5% | 40.9% | – | 28.7% | | Percent believing churches give answers to social problems | – | 18.5% | – | 11.7% | | Percent believing that religious leaders should influence the government | – | – | – | 79.4% | | Percent believing that people have a soul | 59% | 54.4% | 59.6% | – | | Percent believing in the concept of sin | 59.2% | 44.2% | 45.4% | – | | Percent believing religious services are important for deaths | – | 81.1% | – | – | | Percent believing religious services are important for births | – | 66.3% | – | – | | Percent believing religious services are important for marriages | – | 70.4% | – | – | | Percent believing in a personal God | 39.2% | 29.8% | – | – | | Percent believing in re-incarnation | 38.4% | 15.2% | – | – | | Percent believing in the devil's existence | 30.2% | 24% | 28% | – | | Percent that think that religious faith is an important quality in children | – | – | – | 8.6% | | Percent that agree: We depend too much on science and not enough on faith | – | – | – | 25.8% | | Percent that do not trust people of other religions | – | – | – | 20.4% | | Percent that often think about meaning and purpose of life | – | – | – | 20.2% |
| Religious Experiences | 1982 | 1990 | 1996 | 2005 | | Percent finding comfort and strength from religion | 48.5% | 35.6% | 39.5% | – |
| Attitudes | 1982 | 1990 | 1996 | 2005 | | Percent considering religion important | – | 40.3% | 38.2% | 32.8% | | Percent considering that God is not at all important in their life | 19.6% | 24.8% | 22.1% | 27.9% | | Percent confident in religious organizations | 49.6% | 44.6% | 53.5% | 50.5% |
Other
DenominationsStatistics Norway| Religion | Members | Percent | Growth | | Christianity | 4,059,366 | 75.63% | -2.0% | | Church of Norway | 3,686,715 | 68.68% | −4.1% | | Catholic Church | 165,254 | 3.08% | 72.8% | | Pentecostal congregations | 40,725 | 0.76% | 4.0% | | Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy | 28,544 | 0.53% | 63.3% | | Evangelical Lutheran Free Church | 19,313 | 0.36% | −1.0% | | Jehovah's Witnesses | 12,661 | 0.24% | 2.9% | | Baptists | 10,823 | 0.20% | 5.1% | | The Methodist Church in Norway | 10,000 | 0.19% | −5.4% | | Other Christianity | 85,331 | 1.59% | −6.8% | | Total | 5,367,850 | 100.0% | 3.9% |
Operation World 2001
ProtestantismThe Church of Norway is the state church of Norway. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith. It has as its foundation the Christian Bible, the Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Luther's Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession. The Church is a member of the Porvoo Communion with 12 other churches, among them the Anglican Churches of Europe. It has also signed some other ecumenical texts, including the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Catholic Church and the Joint statement on the occasion of the Joint Catholic-Lutheran Commemoration of the Reformation in the city of Lund, Sweden in 2016.
The constitutional head of the Church is the King of Norway, who is obliged to profess the Lutheran faith. The Church of Norway is subject to legislation, including its budgets, passed by the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, and its central administrative functions are carried out by the Royal Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs.
The Church has a congregational and episcopal structure, with 1,284 parishes, 106 deaneries and 11 dioceses, namely:
- Diocese of Oslo, seated in Oslo, also covers Asker Municipality and Bærum Municipality
- Diocese of Borg, seated in Fredrikstad covering Akershus and Østfold counties
- Diocese of Hamar, seated in Hamar covering Innlandet county
- Diocese of Tunsberg, seated in Tønsberg covering Buskerud and Vestfold counties
- Diocese of Agder og Telemark, seated in Kristiansand covering Agder and Telemark counties
- Diocese of Stavanger, seated in Stavanger covering Rogaland county
- Diocese of Bjørgvin, seated in Bergen covering Vestland county
- Diocese of Møre, seated in Molde covering Møre og Romsdal county
- Diocese of Nidaros, seated in Trondheim, covering Trøndelag county
- Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland, seated in Bodø, covering Nordland county
- Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland, seated in Tromsø, covering Troms and Finnmark counties
| As of 2008 | Percent | | Members | 3,874,823 | 81.8% | | Participation in worship services, Sundays and holidays | 5,069,341 | - | | Baptism | 42,599 | - | | Confirmation | 41,655 | - | | Consecration | 10,536 | - | | Funeral | 38,832 | - |
The following membership numbers are from Statistics Norway's data from 2016 to 2020:
The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway or the Free Church as it is commonly known, is a nationwide Lutheran free church in Norway consisting of 81 congregations with 19,313 members in 2020, up from 18,908 in 2016. It was founded in 1877 in Moss. It should not be confused with the Church of Norway, though both churches are members of the Lutheran World Federation. The Free Church is financially independent.
13,108 members in 2020, down from 21,689 in 2016.
11,223 members in 2020, up from 10,598 in 2016.
Brunstad Christian Church8,726 members in 2020, up from 8,177 in 2016.
The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Congregation2,180 members in 2020, down from 4,117 in 2016.
Free Evangelical Congregations3,127 members in 2020, down from 3,318 in 2016.
Christian Centres2,968 members in 2020, down from 3,001 in 2016.
3,139 members in 2020, down from 3,177 in 2016.
6,008 members in 2020, down from 6,830 in 2016.
The Christian Community2,428 members in 2020, down from 2,550 in 2016.
Pentecostal Congregations40,725 members in 2020, up from 39,431 in 2016.
10,823 in 2020, up from 10,367 in 2016.
Adventists4,642 in 2020, down from 4,778 in 2016.
10,000 in 2020, down from 10,531 in 2016.
The Catholic Church in Norway is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and the Curia in Rome. Per 1 January 2020 the church had 165,254 registered members. The number has more than doubled since 2010 from approximately 67,000 members, mainly due to high immigration. There may be approximately 170,000–200,000 people of Catholic background in the country, most of them immigrants.
The country is divided into three Church districts – the Diocese of Oslo and the prelatures of Trondheim and Tromsø and 32 parishes. The Bishop of Oslo participates in the Scandinavian Bishops Conference. The Catholic Church in Norway is as old as the kingdom itself, dating from approximately 900 A.D., with the first Christian monarchs, Haakon I from 934.
At first, the bulk of Catholic immigrants came from Germany, the Netherlands, and France. Immigration from Chile, the Philippines, and from a wide range of other countries began in the 1970s. This development has further increased in the last few years with economic immigrants from Poland and Lithuania. Ethnic Norwegian Catholics are now greatly outnumbered by the immigrants, although the former tend to be far more observant and conservative, being a self-selected group largely of ex-Lutheran converts.
OrthodoxyEastern Orthodoxy28,544 in 2020, up from 20,202 in 2016. The Orthodox Church has experienced a 235% increase in membership from 2010 to 2020.
Other ChristianRestorationismJehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is the largest nontrinitarian religious organization in Norway, with a membership of 12,661 in 2020, up from 12,413 in 2016. A branch office is located in Ytre Enebakk. In 2022, the group lost its legal status as a religion over their exclusionary policies, although they are not banned within Norway. This legal status was restored by the Borgarting Court of Appeal in March 2025.The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a restorationist free church. There are about 4,500 members in Norway, with history going back to 1851. There are 19 congregations, called wards and branches in Norway. A temple, to be built in Oslo, was announced on 4 April 2021 by church president Russell M. Nelson.
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