Statistics Norway

Church of Norway and other religious and philosophical communities

1   Members of religious1 and philosophical2 communities outside the Church of Norway. 1990-2004. Numbers and per cent
  Members3 Per cent
  1990 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 1990 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Members in registered religious communities, total  185 735  254 854  268 097  277 366  285 026  301 457 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Adventists 6 631 5 998 5 853 5 732 5 629 5 530 3.6 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.0 1.8
Buddism 3 012 7 031 8 020 8 212 8 857 9 898 1.6 2.8 3.0 3.0 3.1 3.3
The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway 20 360 21 163 21 303 21 289 21 320 21 389 11.0 8.3 7.9 7.7 7.5 7.1
The Orthodox Church 1 222 2 315 3 279 3 868 4 588 4 827 0.7 0.9 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.6
The Roman Catholic Church 26 580 41 485 42 399 43 264 44 153 46 308 14.3 16.3 15.8 15.6 15.5 15.4
The Evangelical Lutheran Church Community 3 510 3 438 3 762 3 791 3 826 3 821 1.9 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.3
Orthodox Jews 1 000 1 015  992 1 008  926  961 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3
The Norwegian Baptist Union 11 836 10 352 10 385 10 288 10 260 10 261 6.4 4.1 3.9 3.7 3.6 3.4
Church of Norway Mission Covenant 7 416 8 309 8 445 8 503 9 050 8 745 4.0 3.3 3.1 3.1 3.2 2.9
Gods Congregation 1 393 1 051 1 028 1 027 1 013  998 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3
Hindu .. 1 303 2 443 2 734 2 926 3 009 .. 0.5 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0
Islamic communities 19 189 49 633 62 051 68 099 73 391 77 857 10.3 19.5 23.1 24.6 25.7 25.8
Jehovahs Witness 14 749 15 055 14 812 14 686 14 580 14 553 7.9 5.9 5.5 5.3 5.1 4.8
The Christian Community 1 389 2 172 2 301 2 371 2 401 2 428 0.7 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8 0.8
Christian Centres  619 3 222 3 302 3 498 3 492 3 584 0.3 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.2
The Methodist Church of Norway 15 447 13 130 12 918 12 766 12 642 12 468 8.3 5.2 4.8 4.6 4.4 4.1
Pentecostal congregations 43 471 45 006 43 019 44 441 45 624 45 875 23.4 17.7 16.0 16.0 16.0 15.2
Sikh 1 078 1 772 1 974 2 172 2 404 3 110 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 1.0
Foreign Evangelican community in Norway .. .. 5 725 5 346 1 768 1 756 .. .. 2.1 1.9 0.6 0.6
Other registered religious communities 6 833 21 404 14 086 14 271 16 176 24 079 3.7 8.4 5.3 5.1 5.7 8.0
Members in unregistered religious communities, total 11 910 31 757 23 962 27 126 32 095 26 943  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0
Buddism .. .. .. 71 77 70 .. .. .. 0.3 0.2 0.3
Free Evangelical Congregations 2 054 3 702 3 835 4 057 3 987 4 032 17.2 11.7 16.0 15.0 12.4 15.0
The Orthodox Church .. .. ..  197  280  287 .. .. .. 0.7 0.9 1.1
Gods Congregation .. .. ..  348  348  349 .. .. .. 1.3 1.1 1.3
Hindu .. .. ..  242  258  312 .. .. .. 0.9 0.8 1.2
Islamic communities .. 6 825  702 2 388 2 370 2 981 .. 21.5 2.9 8.8 7.4 11.1
Christian Centres .. .. .. 80 87  104 .. .. .. 0.3 0.3 0.4
Pentecostal congregations 1 721 1 193  986 1 363 1 320 1 319 14.5 3.8 4.1 5.0 4.1 4.9
Foreign Evangelican community in Norway .. .. .. 11 739 15 757 15 763 .. .. .. 43.3 49.1 58.5
Other unregistered religious communities 8 135 20 037 18 439 6 641 7 611 1 726 68.3 63.1 77.0 24.5 23.7 6.4
Members in philosopical communities, total 49 428 67 950 70 363 69 807 69 652 70 304  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0
Human Ethical Union 49 428 67 950 70 363 69 807 69 652 69 610  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0  100.0 99.0
Other philosophical communities .. .. .. .. ..  694 .. .. .. .. .. 1.0
1  Includes registered and unregistered religious communities/congregations having central government subsidies for 2004 pursuant to the religious community Act of 13 June 1969.
2  Philosophical communities having central government subsidies for 2004, pursuant to the Act of 12 June 1981 about subsidies to philosophical communities. With effect from 1985, children under the age of 15 are included.
3  Including only members for whom government subsidy is received.
Source: Statistics Norway.

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