Christianity is the largest religion in Norway and it has historically been called a Christian country. A majority of the population are members of the Church of Norway with 64.9% of the population officially belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway in 2021.Church of Norway Statistics Norway 17 May 2020 At numerous times in history, Norway sent more missionaries per capita than any other country. This changed considerably from the 1960s. In 2004, only 12% of the population attended church services each month. The Church of Norway receives a fixed sum from the Government not based on membership numbers. Other religious organisations receive approximately the same amount per member.

In 1993, there were 4,981 churches and chapels in Norway.

Christianization

The conversion of Norway to Christianity began well before 1000 AD. The raids on Ireland, Britain and the Frankish kingdoms had brought the Vikings in touch with Christianity. Haakon the Good of Norway who had grown up in England tried to introduce Christianity in the tenth century, but had met resistance from pagan leaders and soon abandoned the idea.

Anglo-Saxon missionaries from England and Germany engaged in converting Norwegians to Christianity, but with limited success. However, they succeeded in converting Olaf I of Norway to Christianity. Olaf II of Norway (later Saint Olaf) had more success in his efforts to convert the population, and he is credited with Christianising Norway.

The Christians in Norway often established churches or other holy sites at places that had previously been sacred under the Norse religion. The spread of conversion can be measured by burial sites as Pagans were buried with grave goods while Christians were not. Christianity had become well established in Norway by the middle of the 11th century and had become dominant by the middle of the 12th century. Stave churches were built of wood without the use of nails in the 13th century.

By county

County ChristiansStatistics Norway – Members of religious and life stance communities outside the Church of Norway, by religion/life stance. County. 2006–2010 Sogn og Fjordane 90.4% Møre og Romsdal 90.2% Nordland 89.9% Oppland 89.6% Finnmark 89.2% Hedmark 89.1% Trøndelag 88.9% Troms 88.8% Aust-Agder 87.5% Telemark 86.6% Vest-Agder 85.6% Rogaland 85.4% Vestfold 84.8% Østfold 84.6% 84.2% Buskerud 83.0% Akershus 81.4% Oslo 65.8%

The above numbers reflect the percentage of the population that are members of a church, typically from being baptized as infants. According to study collected on a sample of 706 Less than half of these define themselves as Christian.

Compared with other countries and states

Church attendance

As of the early 21st century, Norway has one of the lowest church attendance rates in the world. Below is a table that compares Norway with other governmental divisions in regular church attendance for the early 21st century (2004–2006). In contrast to 250,000 regular churchgoers in the whole of Norway in 2004, 43,500 attend Lakewood Church in the United States each week, and 23,000 attend Hillsong Church in Australia each week.

The U.S. state of Alabama has a population roughly equal to that of Norway, but church attendance in Alabama is as much as 11 times higher than in Norway.

Country / State Regular church attendance (%) Regular church attendance (number) Alabama 58% 2,700,000 Poland 56.7% 21,600,000 Texas 49% 12,140,000 United States average 42% 120,000,000 California 32% 11,830,000 Canada 25% 7,800,000 Vermont 24% 140,000 France 15% 9,800,000 United Kingdom 10% 6,000,000 Australia 7.5% NCLS releases latest estimates of church attendance, National Church Life Survey, Media release, 1,500,000 Norway 5% 250,000

Public opinion

World Values Survey

Religious Affiliation/Identification 1982 1990 1996 2005 Percent belonging to a religious denomination 95.9% 90.2% 90.7% – Percent identifying as a religious person 48% 47.5% 46.9% 41.3% Percent raised religious – 45.7% 41.4% –

Religious Behaviors 1982 1990 1996 2005 Percent attending religious services at least once a month 15.4% 12.7% 12.5% 10.8% Percent that meditate or pray 61.6% 64.4% – 33.2% Percent active in a church or religious organization – – 8.3% 8.3%

Religious Beliefs 1982 1990 1996 2005 Percent believing in God 75.5% 65% 68.8% – Percent believing in heaven 51.9% 43.8% 46.7% – Percent believing in hell 23.5% 19.2% 19.7% – Percent believing in life after death 50.7% 44.7% 47.3% – Percent believing that there are clear guidelines on good and evil 31.4% 31.6% 29.1% – Percent believing that politicians who do not believe in God are unfit for public office – – – 3.8% Percent believing that religious leaders should not influence people's vote – – – 8.9% Percent believing that things would be better if there are more people with strong religious beliefs – – – 6.2% Percent believing church gives answers to people's spiritual needs 64.3% 55% – 48.2% Percent believing church gives answers on family life problems 36.5% 29.1% – 16.1% Percent believing churches give answers to moral problems 47.5% 40.9% – 28.7% Percent believing churches give answers to social problems – 18.5% – 11.7% Percent believing that religious leaders should influence the government – – – 79.4% Percent believing that people have a soul 59% 54.4% 59.6% – Percent believing in the concept of sin 59.2% 44.2% 45.4% – Percent believing religious services are important for deaths – 81.1% – – Percent believing religious services are important for births – 66.3% – – Percent believing religious services are important for marriages – 70.4% – – Percent believing in a personal God 39.2% 29.8% – – Percent believing in re-incarnation 38.4% 15.2% – – Percent believing in the devil's existence 30.2% 24% 28% – Percent that think that religious faith is an important quality in children – – – 8.6% Percent that agree: We depend too much on science and not enough on faith – – – 25.8% Percent that do not trust people of other religions – – – 20.4% Percent that often think about meaning and purpose of life – – – 20.2%

Religious Experiences 1982 1990 1996 2005 Percent finding comfort and strength from religion 48.5% 35.6% 39.5% –

Attitudes 1982 1990 1996 2005 Percent considering religion important – 40.3% 38.2% 32.8% Percent considering that God is not at all important in their life 19.6% 24.8% 22.1% 27.9% Percent confident in religious organizations 49.6% 44.6% 53.5% 50.5%

Other

Born again Christian 1997 2010 Percent who report Born-again Christian 19% 26% People who report Born-again Christian 835,000 1,263,000

Denominations

Statistics Norway

Religion (on 31 December 2019)Members of Christian communities outside the Church of Norway. Statistics Norway 8 December 2020 Members Percent Growth (2014–2019) Christianity 4,059,366 75.63% -2.0%Church of Norway 3,686,715 68.68% −4.1%Catholic Church 165,254In 2015 the bishop of the Diocese of Oslo, Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, and his financial manager were charged with fraud for adding up to 65,000 extra names to the Catholic membership list over the previous several years. 3.08% 72.8%Pentecostal congregations 40,725 0.76% 4.0%Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy 28,544 0.53% 63.3%Evangelical Lutheran Free Church 19,313 0.36% −1.0%Jehovah's Witnesses 12,661 0.24% 2.9%Baptists 10,823 0.20% 5.1%The Methodist Church in Norway 10,000 0.19% −5.4%Other Christianity 85,331 1.59% −6.8% TotalPopulation Statistics Norway 5,367,850 100.0% 3.9%

The Association of Religion Data Archives

Denomination Percent Christian 92.0% Agnostic 3.5% Muslim 2.8% Buddhist 0.7% Atheist 0.6% Baháʼí 0.1% Neo-pagan 0.1%

Operation World 2001

Denomination Percent Christianity 93.7% Protestant 89.4% Other Christian 2.0% Independent 1.2% Catholic 0.8% Non-religious 5.0% Islam 1.0% Buddhism 0.2%

Protestantism

Lutheranism

Church of Norway

The Church of Norway ( in Bokmål or in Nynorsk) is the state church of Norway. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith. It has as its foundation the Christian Bible, the Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Luther's Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession. The Church is a member of the Porvoo Communion with 12 other churches, among them the Anglican Churches of Europe. It has also signed some other ecumenical texts, including the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Catholic Church and the Joint statement on the occasion of the Joint Catholic-Lutheran Commemoration of the Reformation in the city of Lund, Sweden in 2016.

The constitutional head of the Church is the King of Norway, who is obliged to profess the Lutheran faith. The Church of Norway is subject to legislation, including its budgets, passed by the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, and its central administrative functions are carried out by the Royal Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs.

The Church has a congregational and episcopal structure, with 1,284 parishes, 106 deaneries and 11 dioceses, namely: Diocese of Oslo, seated in Oslo, also covers Asker Municipality and Bærum Municipality (Bishop Ole Christian Kvarme) Diocese of Borg, seated in Fredrikstad covering Akershus and Østfold counties (Bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien) Diocese of Hamar, seated in Hamar covering Innlandet county (Bishop Solveig Fiske) Diocese of Tunsberg, seated in Tønsberg covering Buskerud and Vestfold counties (Bishop Jan Otto Myrseth) Diocese of Agder og Telemark, seated in Kristiansand covering Agder and Telemark counties (Bishop Olav Skjevesland) Diocese of Stavanger, seated in Stavanger covering Rogaland county (Bishop Erling Pettersen) Diocese of Bjørgvin, seated in Bergen covering Vestland county (Bishop Halvor Nordhaug) Diocese of Møre, seated in Molde covering Møre og Romsdal county (Bishop Ingeborg Midttømme) Diocese of Nidaros, seated in Trondheim, covering Trøndelag county (Bishop Tor Singsaas) Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland, seated in Bodø, covering Nordland county (Bishop Tor Berger Jørgensen) Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland, seated in Tromsø, covering Troms and Finnmark counties (Bishop Per Oskar Kjølaas)

As of 2008 Percent Members 3,874,823 81.8% Participation in worship services, Sundays and holidays 5,069,341 Baptism 42,599 Confirmation 41,655 Consecration 10,536 Funeral 38,832 The following membership numbers are from Statistics Norway's data from 2016 to 2020:

Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway

The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway ( in Norwegian) or the Free Church as it is commonly known, is a nationwide Lutheran free church in Norway consisting of 81 congregations with 19,313 members in 2020, up from 18,908 in 2016. It was founded in 1877 in Moss. It should not be confused with the Church of Norway, though both churches are members of the Lutheran World Federation. The Free Church is financially independent.

The Swedish Church in Norway

13,108 members in 2020, down from 21,689 in 2016.

Mission Covenant Church of Norway

11,223 members in 2020, up from 10,598 in 2016.

Brunstad Christian Church (previously known as , 'the Christian Church')

8,726 members in 2020, up from 8,177 in 2016.

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Congregation

2,180 members in 2020, down from 4,117 in 2016.

Free Evangelical Congregations

3,127 members in 2020, down from 3,318 in 2016.

Christian Centres

2,968 members in 2020, down from 3,001 in 2016.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church Community

3,139 members in 2020, down from 3,177 in 2016.

The Icelandic Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Norway

6,008 members in 2020, down from 6,830 in 2016.

The Christian Community

2,428 members in 2020, down from 2,550 in 2016.

Other Protestant

Pentecostal Congregations

40,725 members in 2020, up from 39,431 in 2016.

The Norwegian Baptist Union

10,823 in 2020, up from 10,367 in 2016.

Adventists

4,642 in 2020, down from 4,778 in 2016.

Anglicanism

The Methodist Church in Norway