Statistics Norway

Church of Norway and other religious and philosophical communities

1   Members of religious1 and philosophical2 communities outside the Church of Norway. 1980-2003. Numbers and per cent
  Members3 Per cent
  1980 1990 2000 2001 2002 2003 2000 2001 2002 2003
Members in registered religious communities, total  128 184  185 735  254 854  268 097  277 366  285 026  100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Adventists 6 595 6 631 5 998 5 853 5 732 5 629 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.0
Buddism .. 3 012 7 031 8 020 8 212 8 857 2.8 3.0 3.0 3.1
The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway 19 357 20 360 21 163 21 303 21 289 21 320 8.3 7.9 7.7 7.5
The Orthodox Church .. 1 222 2 315 3 279 3 868 4 588 0.9 1.2 1.4 1.6
The Roman Catholic Church 13 923 26 580 41485r 42399r 43 264 44 153 16.7 15.8 15.6 15.5
The Evangelical Lutheran Church Community 3 744 3 510 3 438 3 762 3 791 3 826 1.3 1.4 1.4 1.3
Orthodox Jews  915 1 000 1 015  992 1 008  926 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3
The Norwegian Baptist Union 12 098 11 836 10 352 10 385 10 288 10 260 4.1 3.9 3.7 3.6
Church of Norway Mission Covenant 5 510 7 416 8 309 8 445 8 503 9 050 3.3 3.1 3.1 3.2
Gods Congregation 1 452 1 393 1 051 1 028 1 027 1 013 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
Hindu .. .. 1 303 2 443 2 734 2 926 0.5 0.9 1.0 1.0
Islamic communities 1 006 19 189 49 633 62 051 68 099 73 391 19.5 23.1 24.6 25.7
Jehovahs Witness .. 14 749 15 055 14 812 14 686 14 580 5.9 5.5 5.3 5.1
The Christian Community .. 1 389 2 172 2 301 2 371 2 401 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.8
Christian Centres ..  619 3 222 3 302 3 498 3 492 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.2
The Methodist Church of Norway 17 120 15 447 13 130 12 918 12 766 12 642 5.1 4.8 4.6 4.4
Pentecostal congregations 42 518 43 471 45 006 43 019 44 441 45 624 17.7 16.0 16.0 16.0
Sikh .. 1 078 1 772 1 974 2 172 2 404 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8
Foreign Evangelican community in Norway .. .. .. 5 725 5 346 1 768 .. 2.1 1.9 0.6
Other registered religious communities 3946r 6833r 21404r 14086r 14 271 16 176 7.3 5.3 5.1 5.7
Members in unregistered religious communities, total .. 11 910 31 757 23 962 27 126 32 095  100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Buddism .. .. .. .. 71 77 .. .. 0.3 0.2
Free Evangelical Congregations .. 2 054 3 702 3 835 4 057 3 987 11.7 16.0 15.0 12.4
The Orthodox Church .. .. .. ..  197  280 .. .. 0.7 0.9
Gods Congregation .. .. .. ..  348  348 .. .. 1.3 1.1
Hindu .. .. .. ..  242  258 .. .. 0.9 0.8
Islamic communities .. .. 6 825  702 2 388 2 370 21.5 2.9 8.8 7.4
Christian Centres .. .. .. .. 80 87     0.3 0.3
Pentecostal congregations .. 1 721 1 193  986 1 363 1 320 3.8 4.1 5.0 4.1
Foreign Evangelican community in Norway .. .. .. .. 11 739 15 757 .. .. 43.3 49.1
Other unregistered religious communities .. 8 135 20 037 18 439 6 641 7 611 63.1 77.0 24.5 23.7
Members in philosopical communities, total .. 49 428 67 950 70 363 69 807 69 652  100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Human Ethical Union .. 49 428 67 950 70 363 69 807 69 652  100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
1  Includes registered and unregistered religious communities/congregations having central government subsidies for 2003 pursuant to the religious community Act of 13 June 1969.
2  Philosophical communities having central government subsidies for 2003, 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: Source: Statistics Norway.

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