Do Russians believe in God?

The exact number of believers and non-believers in Russians is a mystery. An analysis of surveys from Russia's three leading poll centers showed that their results vary over a fairly wide range.

Thus, according to a survey by VTsIOM dated March 30, 2010, 75% of Russians called themselves followers of Orthodoxy (in 2009 there were 70%). At the same time, the share of non-believing respondents fell by half compared to 2006 (from 16 to 8%). The number of those who waver between faith and unbelief has not changed over five years and amounts to 5% of all respondents. At the same time, 32% of Russians admitted that they do not perform any religious rituals, only on holidays - 27% and occasionally - 28% [1].

Table 1. How many Russians consider themselves Orthodox?

A survey by the FOM in 2008 showed that 59% of respondents considered themselves Orthodox (compare with 73% for VTsIOM in the same year!). In addition, 2% declared belonging to other Christian denominations, 6% to Islam, 2% to other religions; 5% found it difficult to name a specific denomination. Summarizing, we find that 74% of Russians called themselves believers. 26% of respondents said that they do not consider themselves believers [2].

Table 2. How many Russians consider themselves non-believers?

According to the Levada Center for 2008, 71% of respondents called themselves Orthodox (59% in 2003), Protestants - 1%, Catholics - 1%, Muslims - 5%. Less than 1% of respondents identified themselves as Buddhists or Jews. 5% said they were atheists, 1% chose the “other” answer, and 2% were undecided. At the same time, 10% of respondents do not believe in the existence of God, they do not believe in God, but in some kind of higher power, 11%.

Natalia Demina
based on website materials
VTsIOM, FOM
and Levada Center

1. The VTsIOM survey was conducted on January 23-24, 2010. 1,600 people from 140 settlements in 42 regions, territories and republics of Russia took part in it. Respondents answered the question: “What worldview or religion do you consider yourself to be a follower of?” See http://wciom.ru/arkhiv/tematicheskii-arkhiv/item/single/13365.html?no_cache=1&cHash=782b2c1c4e

2. The FOM survey was conducted on April 19-20, 2008. 1,500 respondents were interviewed in 100 settlements in 46 regions, territories and republics of Russia. Respondents were asked the question: “Do you consider yourself a believer? And if so, what religion (confession) do you consider yourself to be?” See http://bd.fom.ru/report/map/d081623

3. Levada Center polls were conducted on January 18-22 and February 22-25, 2008. The sample consisted of 1600 Russians. Respondents were asked the question: “What religion do you profess?” See www.levada.ru/press/2008031104.html