The number of teenagers in Finland who say they believe in God has increased greatly in recent years, with more young men than women now saying they believe, a new study has found.
New research found that as many as 62% of boys who attended confirmation classes said they believed in God in 2024, while about half of girls expressed the same belief. These statistics represent a large increase amongst both genders, with up to 50% of boys in the nation expressing a belief in God in 2023, alongside about 35% of girls.
The study was the latest iteration in a series which have been carried out since 2019 and saw about 30% of young people who attended confirmation preparation classes questioned.
These classes are organised by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and give teenagers – in the nation declared the world’s happiest by another study not long-ago – opportunities to engage in local parish activities and consider the key questions of life. The classes are voluntary, but up to 80% of the nation’s 14- and 15-year-olds opt to take them, perhaps adding greater validity to the results of this study.
The latest findings, reported on the Evangelical Focus website, add to other recent noteworthy research, which found that young people in Finland’s cities are more likely to be religious than those in rural areas, contrary to traditional findings.
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