Moscow, September 8, 2011
69% of the Russians define themselves as Orthodox Christians, and 5% say they are Muslims. No more than 1% are Catholics, Protestants, Judaists or followers of other religions, the Yury Levada analytical center told Interfax on Thursday.
The center polled 1,600 people in August.
The number of Orthodox Christians in the country has grown by 13%, while the number of Muslims has enlarged by 2% since 2007, the center said.
The number of non-believers reduced from 33% to 22%.
At the same time, 47% of the respondents admitted that they never went to church. Only 3% said they attended church services weekly, 7% did that monthly, 11% went to the church once a year, and 10% even more rarely.
The number of people who never attended church services dropped from 59% in 2007 to 47% in 2011, while the number of those attending church services weekly or monthly grew by 4% in the same period.
The number of baptized Christians enlarged from 76% to 86% since 2007, Levada Center said.
Meanwhile, the number of people who never make their communion dropped from 83% to 65%. Only 3% do that more or less regularly; and the percentage of those making communion several times a year is up, from 14% to 17%.