Free evangelicalism has remained at a similar level over the last 13 years in Switzerland, defying a sharp decline in mainstream Protestant evangelicalism and Catholicism, new data shows.
New statistics released by the Federal Statistics Office in Switzerland show that while only one in every five people in the central European nation identified with the Protestant Swiss Evangelical Church (SEK) in 2023, decreasing to 19% from 34% in 2000, the number of free evangelicals remained at 5%.
The data also revealed that the number of people who declared themselves as belonging to no religion is now the largest in the country at 36%, which represents a staggering increase from a miniscule 1% in 1970, and only 11.4% in 2000.
The Catholic Church came second in 2023 with 31% (down from 42% at the turn of the century), evangelicalism came third, and Islam came fourth with 6%, almost doubling its share since 2000, reports Evangelical Focus.
Researchers also asked questions surrounding religious discrimination for the first time in the study’s history and found that over 8% believed they had experienced it to some level, including 17% of evangelical Christians.
The latest survey data comes following a previous study on Secularisation and Inclusivity released towards the end of last year, which revealed that religious leaders are aging faster than the average rate seen across the country’s working population, and that people are generally more open to accepting people in same-sex relationships as members of their religious communities.
