Research by the Institute for Demographic Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) from October 2022 shows that over the past 14 years, the level of religiosity among youth has halved (2008 – 60%; 2021 – 30%). Non-religious young people have quadrupled.
21% of the youth group (from 14 to 29 years old) have changed their worldview position in favor of atheism: “before a believer, now a non-believer”. Real religiosity is even lower, the scientists note.
On almost all indicators of religious behavior over the years (confession, communion, fasting), religious activity has fallen to the level of statistical error (1-4%). Frequent church attendance among young people of all age groups in 2021 was recorded at a level of 6-7%.
This is the period when the Russian Orthodox Church enjoyed freedom and enormous financial and political support from the state, public influence and power, hundreds of new churches were built and the church leadership reported annually missionary programs among the youth. Since 2010, all Russian students aged 10-11 have studied religion in the form of the subject “Fundamentals of Religious Culture and Secular Ethics”. Most students studied secular ethics (approx. 40%), and Orthodoxy – approx. 30%
In the concept of a successful mission of the Moscow Patriarchate, the main idea was laid that the provision of funds and public influence with the help of the state would lead to an increase in people’s interest in the faith and their conversion to the church. In Moscow and the central region, to which the RAS study refers, church activity is most active and the greatest resources are concentrated there. Practice shows that none of this contributed to young people recognizing Christ in church messages and public presence. On the contrary, even those who had religious interest have lost it. In the provincial regions of the Russian Federation, atheistic attitudes among the population are even stronger.
