In short
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland counted about 63.6% of the population as members in 2023, still a clear majority but down sharply from 98.1% in 1900. About 33.6% of the population had no religious affiliation at the end of 2023, up from 16% in 2000. More than 60,000 people left the church in 2023 alone. Finland is secularizing steadily, and the decline is fastest among the young.
- The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland counted about 63.6% of the population as members in 2023, down from 98.1% in 1900 (Statistics Finland).
- About 33.6% of the population had no religious affiliation at the end of 2023, up from 16% in 2000 (Statistics Finland).
- More than 60,000 people left the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 2023 (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland).
- Finland still has a Lutheran majority, but membership is falling steadily through disaffiliation and secularization, especially among the young.
Finland was long an overwhelmingly Lutheran country, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland still counts a majority of Finns as members. But that majority is shrinking fast. About 63.6% of the population belonged to the church in 2023, down from 98.1% in 1900, according to Statistics Finland, which reports religious affiliation from the population register rather than from surveys. At the same time about 33.6% of the population now has no religious affiliation, up from 16% in 2000. Each year tens of thousands of people leave the church, with more than 60,000 doing so in 2023 alone. The figures below draw on Statistics Finland and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the most authoritative sources on Christianity in Finland.
Key findings at a glance
| Metric | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lutheran church members (share of population) | 63.6% | 2023 | Statistics Finland |
| Lutheran church members (share of population) | 98.1% | 1900 | Statistics Finland |
| No religious affiliation | 33.6% | 2023 | Statistics Finland |
| No religious affiliation | 16% | 2000 | Statistics Finland |
| People who left the Lutheran church | over 60,000 | 2023 | Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland |
A Lutheran majority, still
Christianity in Finland is dominated by one church: the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. It remains the affiliation of a clear majority of Finns, and because membership is recorded in the population register, Statistics Finland can report the share precisely rather than estimating it from a survey. What has changed is the size of that majority, which has fallen from near-universal a century ago to under two thirds today.
About 63.6% of the population belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in 2023, according to Statistics Finland.
In 1900, about 98.1% of the population were members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, according to Statistics Finland.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lutheran members (share of population) | 63.6% | 2023 | Statistics Finland |
| Lutheran members (share of population) | 98.1% | 1900 | Statistics Finland |
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The steady exodus
The decline in the Lutheran share is driven above all by disaffiliation. Tens of thousands of Finns formally leave the church each year, a steady outflow that gradually erodes the majority even where infant baptism was once nearly universal. In 2023, more than 60,000 people left the church.
More than 60,000 people left the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 2023, according to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| People who left the Lutheran church | over 60,000 | 2023 | Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland |
| Lutheran members (share of population) | 63.6% | 2023 | Statistics Finland |
The rise of the unaffiliated
As church membership falls, the share of Finns with no religious affiliation is rising quickly. This group has roughly doubled since the turn of the century and now makes up about a third of the population, the clearest sign of Finland secularizing.
About 33.6% of the population had no religious affiliation at the end of 2023, according to Statistics Finland.
In 2000, about 16% of the population had no religious affiliation, according to Statistics Finland.
| Statistic | Value | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| No religious affiliation | 33.6% | 2023 | Statistics Finland |
| No religious affiliation | 16% | 2000 | Statistics Finland |
How we compiled these statistics
Every number on this page is traceable to a primary source and dated to the year the data were collected. The membership shares and the figures on religious affiliation come from Statistics Finland, the national statistical authority, which reports affiliation from the population register rather than from surveys, so these are registered records. The figure for the number of people who left the church in 2023 comes from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Where data years differ, we use the most recent published year and label it.
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