According to the third scientific survey on the State of the Nation, 88.5% of Maltese claimed to believe in God, but religion lost popularity overall.
88.5% of people believing in God is a decrease from 2021, which saw 93.5% saying they believe in God and 2022 with a ranking of 90.5%.
4.9% in 2023 said that they do not know whether they believe in God or not, which is an increase from last year’s 4.5. Meanwhile, 6.6% said they outright do not believe.
As per age, 98.5% of those aged 56-65 said that they believe in God, the largest cohort in this regard. On the other side, those aged 16-25 years were less likely to believe in God.
70.6% in this cohort said that they believe in God, whereas 25% said that they do not. 4.4% of this group said that they do not know. This means, statistician Vincent Marmara said, that 1 out of every 4 in the 16-25 age group do not believe in God.
As for religion, 61.4% of the respondents said that religion is very important for them, which is an increase from 58.1% last year.
2.9% are unsure about this, which is still an increase from last year. 9.7% do not consider religion important at all, which is a decrease from 2022 with 9.4% and 10.8% in 2021.
Religion is still most important for the older generations, considered most important for the 56-65 age group at 85.4%. And, once again, it is the youngest generations who consider religion least important.
37.8% of the 16 to 25 age group consider religion very important for themselves. 31.7% consider it kind of important, whereas 26.7% consider it not important at all. 1.9% do not know.
#MaltaDaily