Religion in Sweden has, over the years, become increasingly diverse. Christianity was the religion of virtually all of the Swedish population from the 12th to the early 20th century, but it has rapidly declined throughout the late 20th and early 21st century.
Christianity came to Sweden as early as the 9th century mainly as a result of an expansion in trade. The ancient Nordic religions were slowly replaced. By the 12th century, Christianity became the established national religion and the Archdiocese of Uppsala was established as the first national church. Swedish Christians belonged to the Catholic Church until 1527 when the Swedish state church was established as a Protestant church based on Lutheran principles, following the Protestant Reformation enacted by Martin Luther which converted most of Germanic Europe. The Lutheran Church of Sweden was formed and remained the official religion of the Christian state until the turn of the 21st century.
In recent years, the Swedish religious landscape has become increasingly diverse, with Christians comprising in 2021 some 59.6% (of which 53.2% belonging to the Church of Sweden which dropped to 50.7% in 2025Svenska kyrkans (2025). Svenska kyrkans medlemsutveckling år 1972-2025) of the total population and rising numbers of people of other religions (2.5%) and unaffiliated people (37.9%). The Lutheran Church of Sweden – which was the state religion until 2000 – is by far the largest Christian denomination but is facing a continuous decline in registered membership. Other minor Christian denominations include Free churches, the Catholic Church, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Muslims make up the largest non-Christian religious group, followed by Buddhists, Jews and Hindus. Jews are one of Sweden's five official national minorities with Yiddish one of the officially recognised minority languages. The country has ratified the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
History Historical Norse religion
Before the 11th century, Swedes practised Norse religion, worshipping a variety of Germanic deities. An important religious centre was the Temple at Uppsala. The shape and location of this temple is sparsely documented, but it is referenced in the Norse sagas and Saxo Grammaticus' , and is also described by Adam of Bremen. It was probably destroyed by King Ingold I in 1087.
While Norse religion was officially abandoned with the Christianization of Scandinavia, belief in many spirits of Norse mythology such as tomtar, trolls, elves and dwarves lived on for a long time in Scandinavian folklore.
9th–12th century: Conversion to Catholicism
The oldest evidence of Christian burial sites in Sweden are dated to the 6th century, but they are very few in number. The earliest documented campaign to Christianise the Swedes was made by the monk Ansgar (801–865). Making his first visit to Birka in 828–829, he was granted permission to build a church. In 831, he returned home and became Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, with responsibility for Christianity in the north. Around 850, he came back to Birka, where the original congregation had been shattered. Ansgar tried to reestablish it, but it only lasted a few years.
Christianity first gained a hold in Västergötland, probably due to mercantile ties to the Christian Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England. Remnants of a 9th-century church building has recently been excavated in Varnhem. The diocese of Skara, which is the oldest diocese in Sweden, emerged under the Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen, in the late 10th century. According to Adam of Bremen, the Christian king Olof Skötkonung, who ruled from c. 995 to c. 1022 was forced to limit Christian activities to the western province. When King Stenkil ascended to the throne in 1060 Christianity was firmly established throughout most of Sweden, although the people of Uppland, and probably Sodermanland, resisted the new religion.
The last king adhering to the old religion was Blot-Sweyn, who reigned 1084–1087. A handful of local saints (canonized on diocesan level before the centralized process became normative in 1170–1200), folk saints and clerics were allegedly martyred as late as the 1120s, most of them in Sodermanland and Uppland. Under the reign of Eric the Saint (1150–1160), Christianity became an ideological factor of the state and the First Swedish Crusade took place. The crusade was a military expedition aimed at converting the Finns to Christianity and conquering Finland as Swedish territory. A national church of Sweden was not established until 1164, when the first Archbishop of Uppsala received his pallium from the Archbishop of Lund.
Pre-Reformation Swedish Catholic religious leaders – including Bridget of Sweden, founder of the continuously functioning Catholic Vadstena Abbey – continue to be held in high regard by the population as a whole. Her nunnery at Vadstena is one of Sweden's pre-eminent tourist attractions.
16th century: Protestant Reformation; conversion to Lutheranism
Shortly after Gustav Vasa was elected king in 1523, he asked the Pope to confirm Johannes Magnus as Archbishop of Sweden, replacing Gustav Trolle, who had supported the Danish king Christian II and was convicted for treason. When the Pope refused, Gustav Vasa – he himself a proponent of a "Renaissance Biblical Humanism" – started to promote the Swedish Lutheran reformers Olaus, Laurentius Petri, and Laurentius Andreae. Gustav Trolle was eventually forced into exile, and soon all ecclesiastical property was transferred to the Crown. In 1531, Laurentius Petri was appointed by the Crown to become the first Lutheran primate of Sweden, and was ordained by five Catholic bishops without papal assent. The ties with Rome were irreversibly cut in 1536, when Canon Law was abolished.
Originally, no changes were made to official church doctrine, and the episcopal organization was retained. Gradually, in spite of popular protests against the introduction of "Luthery", teachings were aligned with continental Lutheranism. Calvinism was, otherwise, refuted as heresy at the synod of Stockholm in 1565. In order to appease the Holy See, king John III of Sweden, one of Gustav Vasa's sons, took measures to bring the Church of Sweden to a theological position influenced by George Cassander, but, in the heat of controversy, such a compromise position did not achieve its intent of reunion. However, after his death, his brother, Duke Charles, summoned the Uppsala Synod in 1593, which declared the Holy Scriptures the sole guideline for faith, with four documents accepted as faithful and authoritative explanations of it: the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, and the unaltered Augsburg Confession of 1530.N.F. Lutheran Cyclopedia, article, "Upsala, Diet of", New York: Schrivner, 1899. p. 528–29. The Uppsala Synod also reinstated The Swedish Church Ordinance of 1572, which remained in use until 1686.
The move put Charles at odds with the heir to the throne, his nephew Sigismund, who was raised in the Catholic faith. Although Sigismund promised to uphold Lutheranism, Duke Charles's aspirations to power led to the War against Sigismund, a power struggle that was effectively decided at the Battle of Stångebro in 1598, in favour of Charles and Protestantism.
During the era following the Protestant Reformation, usually known as the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy, small groups of non-Lutherans, especially Calvinist Dutchmen, the Moravian Church and Walloon immigrants from the Southern Netherlands, played a significant role in trade and industry, and were quietly tolerated as long as they kept a low profile.
17th–18th century: Conversion of the Sami, freedom for Christian minorities and Jews The Sami, who originally had their own shamanistic religion, were converted to Lutheranism by Swedish missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries. Citizens of foreign nations, mainly Russians, were granted freedom to practice Eastern Orthodox Christianity since the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617. Anglican and Calvinist foreigners were granted freedom to practice their religions in Stockholm (1741) and Gothenburg (1747). Similar liberties were granted to Catholics in 1781, and an apostolic vicar was sent to Sweden in 1783. In 1782, with the passage of Judereglementet, Jews were allowed to settle in three cities and practice their religion, although they were not allowed to proselytize or marry Christians.
18th–19th century: Crackdown on Pietism and enforcement of Lutheranism In order to curb Pietism, several royal decrees and parliament acts were issued in the 18th century, such as the Conventicle Act and Kyrkogångsplikt . They forbade Swedish citizens to engage in practices other than mandatory Lutheran Sunday Mass and daily family devotions. Without the presence of a Lutheran clergyman, public religious gatherings were forbidden. It remained illegal until 1860 for Lutheran Swedes to convert to another confession or religion.
19th–20th century: Liberalisation of all religions In 1860 it became legal to leave the Church of Sweden for the purpose of becoming a member of another officially recognised religious denomination. From 1951, it became legal to leave the church, without providing any reason. From 1951 to 1977 all religious institutions could only be established with the permission of the Crown.
Demographics
Sweden doesn't gather statistics on the basis of ethnicity or religion. The constitution of Sweden provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice. The government at all levels seeks to protect this right in full and does not tolerate its abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The rights and freedoms enumerated in the constitution include the rights to practice one's religion and protection of religious freedom. The laws concerning religious freedoms are generally observed and enforced at all government levels and by the courts in a non-discriminatory fashion. Legal protections cover discrimination or persecution by private actors.
In the early 2000s about 80% of Swedes belonged to the Church of Sweden. By the end of 2021, this figure had fallen to 53.9%. Other religious organizations keep count of their registered membership, and as reported in the table, as of 2021 the largest religious denominations after the Church of Sweden (53.9%) were the officially registered Muslims (2.1%), members of the Orthodox Church (1.5%), Catholics (1.2%) and members of the Swedish Pentecostal Movement (1.1%).
Eight recognized religious denominations, in addition to the Church of Sweden, raise revenues through member-contributions made through the national tax system. All recognized denominations are entitled to direct government financial support, contributions made through the national tax system, or a mix of both. Certain Christian holidays are national holidays. Individuals in the military may observe their the holidays from their own religious background, in exchange for not taking leave on public holidays. There is no legal requirement for religious groups to register with the government; however, only those faith communities which are registered can receive government funding and tax exemptions.
Religious education is compulsory in public schools. Parents may send their children to religious charter schools, all of which receive school vouchers, provided they adhere to government guidelines on core academic curriculum. The Equality Ombudsman investigates claims of discrimination; discrimination on religious grounds is illegal.
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