Religion in Latvia
Religion in Latvia (2019 estimate)[1]
The mainreligiontraditionally practiced inLatviaisChristianity.As of 2019[update],it is the largest religion (68.84%),[1]though only about 7% of the population attends religious services regularly.[2]
Lutheranismis the mainChristian denominationamong ethnicLatviansdue to strong historical links with theNordic countriesandNorthern Germany(seeHanseatic League), whileCatholicismis most prevalent in eastern Latvia (Latgale), mostly due toPolishinfluence. TheLatvian Orthodox Churchis the third largest Christian church in Latvia, with adherents primarily among theRussian-speaking minority.
History
[edit]
Latvia was one of the last regions in Europe to beChristianized.The inhabitants of the region that is now Latvia once practicedFinnic paganismandBaltic mythology,but this practice gradually diminished through the course of the centuries. In the 12th to 13th centuries Latvia first became part of the Catholic Church, as the Christian kings ofDenmark,Swedenand the North GermanLivonianandTeutonic military ordersfought for influence in the region in what later became known as theNorthern Crusades.
Despite the Christianization, the local populace in the countryside maintained their pagan belief system for several centuries, with pockets of paganism surviving in Latvia up until the 17th century. Along with the rest of the traditional holidays, Christmas (Ziemassvētki) and Easter (Lieldienas) in Latvia still largely retain their pagan roots.
During theProtestant Reformationthe teachings of Lutheranism from Northern Germany and Scandinavia completely changed the religious landscape in the country, and eventually only Latgale remained Catholic due to the influence of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.BeforeWorld War II,2/3 of Latvia wasProtestant;overwhelminglyLutheranwith scarceCalvinistpopulation and individual cases of adhering to other Protestant confessions.[3][4][5]
Because of thestate policy of atheismduring the Soviet era and the general European trend of secularization, religiosity declined drastically, and today a growing percentage of Latvians claimsnot to follow any religion,with lowchurch attendance.
Demographics
[edit]According to the Annual Report of Religious Organizations and their Activities published by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), based on 2022 data, the largest religious groups are Lutheran (37 percent), Roman Catholic (19 percent), and Latvian Orthodox Christian (13 percent);[6]almost 30 percent of the country is unaffiliated to any religious group.
In a survey from 2015, theISSPfound that 62.6% of the Latvian population declared to belong to a Christian denomination, divided in 19.7%Russian Orthodox,18.5%Roman Catholic,17.8%Protestant,6.1%Old Believersand 0.5% belonged to smaller Christian denominations. A further 36.7% declared to haveNo Religionand 0.7% declared to belong to other religions.[7]
In the same year theEurobarometersurvey by theEuropean Commissionfound different results, with 76.7% of the Latvians regarding themselves as Christians, divided in 26.2%Catholics24.0%Eastern Orthodox,16.6%Protestants,and 9.9% other Christians. The unaffiliated people made up the 22.0% of the respondents and were divided inAtheistswith 4.7% andAgnosticswith 17.3%.[8]
The Latvian polling agency SKDS has also gathered information regarding the religious affiliation of Latvia over the years. In 2018, 26% of the population was Orthodox, 20% identified as Catholic while 17% was Lutheran, and 3% were Old Believers. 14% believed in God without being affiliated to any religion, while 15% declared themselves as atheist. A further 3% belonged to other Christian sects or religions.[9][10]
| Religious affiliation (%) | 1860 | 1897 | 1935[11] | 2000[12] | 2001[13] | 2003[12] | 2005[12] | 2006[12] | 2007[12] | 2008[12] | 2009[12] | 2010[12] | 2011[12] | 2014[14][9] | 2016[9] | 2018[9] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orthodox | 8.9 | 8.6 | 8.9 | 22 | 18.9 | 25 | 24 | 26 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 25 | 25.6 | 25 | 26 |
| Catholic | 18.4 | 20.2 | 24.5 | 19 | 22.3 | 21 | 21 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 23 | 21 | 22.6 | 22 | 20 |
| Lutheran | 66.4 | 59.1 | 55.2 | 28 | 23.8 | 25 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 24 | 22 | 20 | 23 | 18.4 | 20 | 17 |
| Old Believer | 3.2 | 4.1 | 5.5 | 2.7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | |
| Judaism | 3.2 | 7.4 | 4.8 | |||||||||||||
| Other faiths / denominations | 0 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Belief in God without religion | - | - | - | 10 | 12.8 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9.7 | 10 | 14 |
| Atheist | - | - | - | 18 | 17.7 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 16.4 | 17 | 15 |
| Undecided | - | - | - | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info onPhabricatorand onMediaWiki.org. |
Religion in Latvia, SKDS surveys 2000-2018
Religion in Latvia today
[edit]
TheEvangelical Lutheran Church of Latviahas 708,773 members.[10]TheCatholic Church in Latviahas 430,000 members.[15]Historically, the west and central parts of the country have been predominantly Protestant, while the east – particularly theLatgaleregion – has been predominantly Catholic, although Catholics are now common in Riga and other cities due to migration from Latgale.[16]Historically, Lutherans were the majority, but Communist rule weakened Lutheranism much more than Catholicism, with the result that there are now only slightly more Lutherans than Catholics. TheLatvian Orthodox Churchis then-semi-autonomous and has 400,000 members.[10]Orthodoxy predominates among theLatvian Russianpopulation.
As of 2022[update],the population ofJews in Latviawas 4,000, although some estimates are double this;[17]there are 1,000Muslims in Latvia.[10]The neopagan Latvian ethnic religion isDievturība.
TheReformed Church in Latviais a small Reformed denomination with two congregations inRiga.
As of 2011, the Justice Ministry had registered 1145 congregations.[10]This total included: Lutheran (294), Catholic (250), Orthodox (122), Baptist (94), Old Believer Orthodox (69), Pentecostal (52), Seventh-day Adventist (51), Evangelical (39), New Generation (18), Muslim (17), Jehovah's Witnesses (15), Jewish (13), Methodist (12), New Apostolic (11),Hare Krishna(11),Dievturi(10),Buddhist(4), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) (4), and 18 other congregations. In 2003, the Government also registered the Christian Scientists as a recognized religious congregation.
In 2022 Latvia passed a law removing all influence or power over the Orthodox Church from non Latvians, which would include the Patriarch of Moscow, making the Orthodox Church of Latvia completely independent.[18]
- Church membership
In 2011, churches in Latvia provided the following estimates of church membership to the Justice Ministry:[10]
| Adherents | Number |
|---|---|
| Lutherans | 708,773 |
| Catholics | 430,000 |
| Orthodox | 370,000 |
| Old Believer Orthodox | 34,517 |
| Baptists | 6,930 |
| Seventh-day Adventists | 4,046 |
| Pentecostals | 3,268 |
| Evangelicals | 3,171 |
| New Generation | 3,020 |
| New Apostolics | 1,268 |
| Latter-day Saints | 852 |
| Methodists | 751 |
| Dievturi | 663 |
| Augsburg Lutheran | 581 |
| Salvation Army | 462 |
| Jews | 416 |
| Muslims | 319 |
| German Lutheran | 308 |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | 290 |
| Old Apostolics | 287 |
| Buddhists | 155 |
| Reformed | 145 |
Freedom of religion
[edit]In 2023, the country was scored 4 out of 4 for religious freedom.[19]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]
- ^ab"Ziņojums par Tieslietu ministrijā iesniegtajiem reliģisko organizāciju pārskatiem par darbību 2019.gadā"(in Latvian). 2019.Retrieved29 July2023.
- ^Eunice K. Y. Or (23 September 2004)."Trust in Religious Institutions does not convey to Church Attendance".Christian Today.Retrieved28 July2007.
- ^Encyclopedia of Global Religion by Mark Juergensmeyer, Wade Clark Roof; page 111.
- ^State Responses to Minority Religions by Dr David M Kirkham, p.
- ^Atlas of Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century by Richard Crampton, Benjamin Crampton; p. 90; "Inter-war Latvia: Religious composition"
- ^"US State Dept 2022 report on Latvia".
- ^"Country specific religious affiliation or denomination: Latvia - weighted".International Social Survey Programme: Work Orientations IV - ISSP 2015.2015 – viaGESIS.
- ^"DISCRIMINATION IN THE EU IN 2015",Special Eurobarometer,437,European Union:European Commission,2015,retrieved15 October2017– viaGESIS
- ^abcdKaktiņš, Arnis (2018-09-24)."Lūk, kā izskatās Latvijas iedzīvotāju reliģiskās un konfesionālās piederības pēdējās 3 aptaujās, kur tas ir ticis prasīts. Kā redzams, tad par katoļiem sevi patlaban uzskata ~ 20% iedzīvotāju. Pareizticīgo ir vairāk: ~ 26%, bet luterāņu mazāk: ~ 17%.pic.twitter.com/hM5kHIxeXZ".@ArnisKaktins(in Latvian).Archivedfrom the original on 2019-06-20.Retrieved2019-06-20.
- ^abcdef"Tieslietu ministrijā iesniegtie reliģisko organizāciju pārskati par darbību 2011. gadā"(in Latvian). Archived fromthe originalon 2012-11-26.Retrieved2012-07-25.
- ^Ceturtā tautas skaitīšana Latvijā. 1935. gadā.Valsts statistiskā pārvalde. 1936.
- ^abcdefghi"Religion in Latvia (2000-2011)"(PDF).Latvian Centre for Human Rights. 2016.
- ^LETA (2001-07-10)."Latvijā it tikpat daudz katoļu, cik luterāņu".delfi.lv(in Latvian).Retrieved2019-06-20.
- ^"Visvairāk - pareizticīgo".la.lv.2014.
- ^Reliģiju Enciklopēdija,Statistika(in Latvian). Accessed 2009-07-23.
- ^Ščerbinskis, Valters (1999)."Eastern Minorities".The Latvian Institute.
- ^"US State Dept 2022 report on Latvia".
- ^"Orthodox Church of Latvia seceded from Moscow – It was a matter of national security, says the President".10 September 2022.
- ^Freedom House website, retrieved 2023-08-08
Further reading
[edit]- Stradiņš J (1996). "Martin Luther and the Impact of the Reformation on the History of Latvia. - Dialogue between Christianity and Secularism in Latvia".Annals of European Academy of Sciences and Arts.15(VI): 75.
- Klīve V (1993). "The Latvian Struggle for Survival: A Religious Perspective".Humanities and Social Sciences. Latvia(1): 51–52.
