back to Norway, Church of Norway
| Group | Where | Number of Adherents |
% of total pop. |
Number of congreg./ churches/ units |
Number of countries |
Year | Source | Quote/ Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Church of Norway | Norway | 3,850,000 | - | - | - | 1996 | 1997 Britannica Book of the Year. Pg. 781-783. | Table; [Same body as the "Evangelical Lutheran Church "] |
| Church of Norway Mission Covenant | Norway | 3,804 | - | 40 units |
- | 1971 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Church of Norway Mission Covenant | Norway | 5,510 | - | 54 units |
- | 1980 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Church of Norway Mission Covenant | Norway | 7,416 | - | 78 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Church of Norway Mission Covenant | Norway | 7,934 | - | 79 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Evangelic Lutheran Church Community | Norway | 3,618 | - | 17 units |
- | 1971 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Evangelic Lutheran Church Community | Norway | 3,744 | - | 17 units |
- | 1980 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Evangelic Lutheran Church Community | Norway | 3,510 | - | 16 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Evangelic Lutheran Church Community | Norway | 3,540 | - | 16 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church | Norway | - | 88.00% | - | - | 1992 | Wolff, Michael. Where We Stand: Can America Make it in the Global Race for Wealth, Health, and Happiness? Bantam Books: New York (1992). Pg. 206-207. | Chart; Listed as "Church of Norway " [Same body as the "Evangelical Lutheran Church "] |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church | Norway | 3,850,000 | - | - | - | 1996 | 1997 Britannica Book of the Year. Pg. 781-783. | Table; listed as "Evangelical Lutheran (Church of Norway) ": I've included additional stats separately as "Church of Norway " and "Evangelical Lutheran " |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church | Norway | 3,850,000 | - | - | - | 1996 | 1997 Britannica Book of the Year. Pg. 781-783. | Table; Listed as "Evangelical Lutheran " |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church | Norway | - | 87.80% | - | - | 1997 | *LINK* CIA World Factbook web site (viewed Aug. 1998) | Total population: 4,399,993 (1997 est.). Evangelical Lutheran 87.8% (state church), other Protestant and Roman Catholic 3.8%, none 3.2%, unknown 5.2% (1980) |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church | Norway | 3,870,000 | 90.00% | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 4 - Europe. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 284-285. | "Location: Norway; Population: 4.3 million "; "Norway's official religion is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway. While 90% of the population are members, fewer than 20% are regular churchgoers. " |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church - attend regularly | Norway | 860,000 | 20.00% | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 4 - Europe. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 284-285. | "Location: Norway; Population: 4.3 million "; "Norway's official religion is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway. While 90% of the population are members, fewer than 20% are regular churchgoers. " |
| Free Evangelical Congregations | Norway | 2,054 | - | 12 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway "; Listed in table as "Free Evangelic Congregations " |
| Free Evangelical Congregations | Norway | 4,346 | - | 27 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway "; Listed in table as "Free Evangelic Congregations " |
| Hinduism | Norway | 2,000 | - | - | - | 1994 | *LINK* "News In Brief " in Hinduism Today International (March 1994: Vol. 16, No. 3) | Europe's largest Hindu population is 1.3-million in the United Kingdom, followed by Holland, 150,000; Germany, 30,000; Spain and Portugal, over 10,000; Switzerland, 8,000; Sweden, 8,000; and Norway, 2,000. |
| Human and Ethical Union | Norway | 49,428 | - | 157 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Human and Ethical Union | Norway | 64,322 | - | 120 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Humanism | Norway | - | 20.00% | - | - | 1993 | O'Brien, J. & M. Palmer. The State of Religion Atlas. Simon & Schuster: New York (1993). Pg. 108. | "The proportion of people who call themselves humanists and who belong to humanist organizations is small, although a few states -- the Netherlands with 25% and Norway with 20% -- are obvious exceptions. " |
| Islam | Norway | 1,006 | - | 4 units |
- | 1980 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Islam | Norway | 19,189 | - | 32 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Islam | Norway | 42,134 | - | 62 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Islam | Norway | 4,400 | 0.10% | - | - | 2000 | K. F. Bin Mohd Noor. "Muslims Statistics... for Year 2000 " [orig. src: Barrett. World Christian Encyclopedia, 1982] | Table |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | Norway | 7,358 | 0.18% | 177 units |
- | 1983 | Botting, Heather & Gary Botting. The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (1984), pg. 53-59. | Table: "1983 Service Year Report of JWs Worldwide "; Adherent count here is from "1983 Peak Publishers " column |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | Norway | 14,749 | - | 174 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | Norway | 15,168 | - | 178 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | Norway | 9,921 | 0.23% | 174 units |
- | 1997 | *LINK* official organization web site | Adherent/member count is for "1997 Peak Witnesses "; Memorial attendance (annual sacrament meeting) for same year: 16,597. |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | Norway | 10,201 | 0.23% | 175 units |
- | 1998 | *LINK* Jehovah's Witnesses official web site; section: "Statistics "; web page: "Worldwide Report " (viewed 16 April 1999). | Table: "1998 Report of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide "; This adherent/member count is for "1998 Peak Witnesses " |
| Jehovah's Witnesses - Memorial attendance | Norway | 14,135 | - | 177 units |
- | 1983 | Botting, Heather & Gary Botting. The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (1984), pg. 53-59. | Table: "1983 Service Year Report of JWs Worldwide "; Data from columns: "No. of congs. " and "Memorial attendance " |
| Jehovah's Witnesses - Memorial attendance | Norway | 16,597 | 0.38% | 174 units |
- | 1997 | *LINK* official organization web site | From 1997 Statistics "Memorial attendance " column. Count of all who attend this once-a-year meeting, whether or not a "publisher " in full standing. Most would be considered adherents. |
| Jehovah's Witnesses - Memorial attendance | Norway | 15,905 | 0.36% | - | - | 1998 | *LINK* Jehovah's Witnesses official web site; section: "Statistics "; web page: "Worldwide Report " (viewed 16 April 1999). | Table: "1998 Report of Jehovah's Witnesses Worldwide "; "Memorial attendance " column indicates attendance at yearly communion meeting. |
| Judaism | Norway | 2,000 | 0.05% | - | - | 1937 | Gilbert, Martin (ed.) The Illustrated Atlas of Jewish Civilization: 4,000 Years of Jewish History. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. (1990), pg. 161. | Map: "European Jewry on the Eve of the Holocaust 1937-41 "; "Figures show Jewish populations in 1937 and percentage of total population. " |
| Judaism | Norway | 2,100 | - | - | - | 1940 | "Around the World: Norway OKs $57 million to compensate Jews " in Dallas Morning News (Friday, March 12, 1999), pg. 21A. | "About one-third of Norway's pre-war community of 2,100 Jews died in the Holocaust. " |
| Judaism | Norway | 1,400 | - | - | - | 1946 | "Around the World: Norway OKs $57 million to compensate Jews " in Dallas Morning News (Friday, March 12, 1999), pg. 21A. | "About one-third of Norway's pre-war community of 2,100 Jews died in the Holocaust. " |
| Judaism | Norway | 1,500 | - | - | - | 1998 | *LINK* Jewish Communities of the World web site (1998) | Table: World Jewry. "collected our data from from demographic and other academic studies, community reports, and up-dates in the general media... consulted with experts to verify findings before reaching our assessments and estimates. " |
| Lutheran | Norway | - | 95.00% | - | - | 1973 | Zehavi, A.M. (editor) Handbook of the World's Religions. New York: Franklin Watts (1973), pg. 19. | "In Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland 95% to 98% of the people are members of the Lutheran Church... " |
| Lutheran | Norway | 3,900,000 | - | - | - | 1994 | *LINK* [Orig. source: Barrett, David B. World Christian Encyclopedia (1994 Update)] | 7.6 in Sweden, 4.6 in Finland, 4.5 in Denmark, 3.9 in Norway, and 2.4 million in Indonesia. |
| Lutheran | Norway | 3,800,000 | - | - | - | 1995 | *LINK* Evangelical Lutheran Church in America web site; web page: "January 25, 1996 News Releases " (viewed 9 July 1999). Story: "More than 60 Million Lutherans Worldwide " [96-01-003-FI] | List: "Countries with more than 1/2 million Lutherans " |
| Lutheran Free Church of Norway | Norway | 18,984 | - | 64 units |
- | 1971 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Lutheran Free Church of Norway | Norway | 19,357 | - | 66 units |
- | 1980 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Lutheran Free Church of Norway | Norway | 20,360 | - | 72 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Lutheran Free Church of Norway | Norway | 20,618 | - | 80 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Methodist | Norway | 17,622 | - | 56 units |
- | 1971 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Methodist | Norway | 17,120 | - | 53 units |
- | 1980 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Methodist | Norway | 15,447 | - | 54 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Methodist | Norway | 13,976 | - | 51 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| New Covenant Church of God | Norway | - | - | 4 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* web site (1998): "Information on Latter Day Saint Movement (Restoration Theology) Religions " by David Bowie; "Quoting from a letter on New Covenant Church of God stationery from Christopher C. Warren, Presiding Patriarch, dated 21 January 1996 " | "The New Covenant Church of God/Guds Nye Pakts Kirke... The Church does not publish membership statistics. There are four congregations in Norway, one in the Ukraine, and one in Bulgaria. " |
| Nonreligious | Norway | - | 3.00% | - | - | 1992 | Goring, Rosemary (ed). Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions (Larousse: 1994) pg. 581-584. | Table: "Population Distribution of Major Beliefs "; "Figures have been compiled from the most accurate recent available information and are in most cases correct to the nearest 1% " |
| Nonreligious | Norway | - | 3.20% | - | - | 1997 | *LINK* CIA World Factbook web site (viewed Aug. 1998) | Total population: 4,399,993 (1997 est.). Evangelical Lutheran 87.8% (state church), other Protestant and Roman Catholic 3.8%, none 3.2%, unknown 5.2% (1980) |
| Norwegian Baptist Union | Norway | 11,880 | - | 61 units |
- | 1971 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Norwegian Baptist Union | Norway | 12,098 | - | 64 units |
- | 1980 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Norwegian Baptist Union | Norway | 11,836 | - | 66 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Norwegian Baptist Union | Norway | 10,917 | - | 62 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| other | Norway | 4,025 | - | 12 units |
- | 1971 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway "; "Other " here is all religions not explicitly on table & not Church of Norway: Christian Centre, Evan. Luth. Commun., Free Evang. Congr., Buddhism,Adventist, Ch. Norway Mission Cov., Norw. Bapt. Union, Jehovah Wit., Methodist, Rom.Cath, Pentec., Islam, Luth. Free |
| other | Norway | 7,374 | - | 37 units |
- | 1980 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway "; "Other " here is all religions not explicitly on table & not Church of Norway: Christian Centre, Evan. Luth. Commun., Free Evang. Congr., Buddhism,Adventist, Ch. Norway Mission Cov., Norw. Bapt. Union, Jehovah Wit., Methodist, Rom.Cath, Pentec., Islam, Luth. Free |
| other | Norway | 21,669 | - | 97 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway "; "Other " here is all religions not explicitly on table & not Church of Norway: Christian Centre, Evan. Luth. Commun., Free Evang. Congr., Buddhism,Adventist, Ch. Norway Mission Cov., Norw. Bapt. Union, Jehovah Wit., Methodist, Rom.Cath, Pentec., Islam, Luth. Free |
| other | Norway | 530,000 | - | - | - | 1996 | 1997 Britannica Book of the Year. Pg. 781-783. | Table; "other " = NOT Evangelical Lutheran (Church of Norway) |
| other | Norway | 27,894 | - | 213 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway "; "Other " here is all religions not explicitly on table & not Church of Norway: Christian Centre, Evan. Luth. Commun., Free Evang. Congr., Buddhism,Adventist, Ch. Norway Mission Cov., Norw. Bapt. Union, Jehovah Wit., Methodist, Rom.Cath, Pentec., Islam, Luth. Free |
| Pentecostal | Norway | 35,874 | - | 153 units |
- | 1971 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Pentecostal | Norway | 42,518 | - | 187 units |
- | 1980 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Pentecostal | Norway | 45,192 | - | 226 units |
- | 1990 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Pentecostal | Norway | - | 1.00% | - | - | 1992 | Wolff, Michael. Where We Stand: Can America Make it in the Global Race for Wealth, Health, and Happiness? Bantam Books: New York (1992). Pg. 206-207. | Chart |
| Pentecostal | Norway | 41,459 | - | 239 units |
- | 1996 | *LINK* Government statistics web site (viewed circa Nov. 1998) | Table: "Religious and philosophical communities outside Church of Norway " |
| Protestant | Norway | - | 88.00% | - | - | 1992 | Goring, Rosemary (ed). Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions (Larousse: 1994) pg. 581-584. | Table: "Population Distribution of Major Beliefs "; "Figures have been compiled from the most accurate recent available information and are in most cases correct to the nearest 1% "; Protestant "includes all non-Roman Catholic denominations " |
| Raelian | Norway | 0 | - | - | - | 1997 | *LINK* Rothstein, Mikael. "Patterns of Diffusion and Religious Globalization: An Empirical Survey of New Religious Movements " in Temenos 32 (1996), 195-220. (Viewed online, Temenos web site, 30 Jan. 1999) | "International Raelian Movement... no supporters of the Raelians are, by the way, known to exist in either Norway, Denmark or Finland. " |
| Sami | Norway | - | - | - | - | 1970 | Cavendish, Richard (ed.). Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural (vol. 12). New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp. (1970), pg. 1605. | "The ancient Norwegians, believing that the Lapps were skilled in sorcery, were in the habit of visiting them secretly to learn their art: indeed their medieval kings were obliged to prohibit journeys to Finmakr for the purpose. (Finmark is the most northerly province of Norway, where many Lapps live.) " |
| Sami | Norway | 35,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 4 - Europe. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998), pg. 345-346. | [NOTE: This is an ethnic/cultural group, NOT a distinct religion] "It is thought that between 30,000 and 35,000 live in Norway, 10,000 in Sweden, 3,000 to 4,000 in Finland, and 1,000 to 2,000 in Russia. "; "Over the course of time, all of the Sami have been converted to Christianity... Today most Sami practice the dominant Lutheran religion of the Nordic countries in which they live. " |
| Scientology | Norway | - | - | - | - | 1999 | *LINK* web page (OPPOSING VIEW): "Scientology Worldwide " (viewed 13 Feb. 1999); "Last Update on 10th Feb. 1999 " | Number here ( "# congregations ") represent total of all orgs: Dianetic Centers, Celebrity Centers, missions, etc.; "CoS web sites have lists of Missions (1998) & Orgs (1996) from which the Table below is derived. Original concept and research by 'Inducto'. " |
| Sikhism | Norway | - | - | 1 unit |
- | 1993 | O'Brien, J. & M. Palmer. The State of Religion Atlas. Simon & Schuster: New York (1993). Pg 30-31. | Map: Number of Sikh gurdwaras ( "a gurdwara is both a place of worship and community centre ") |
| unknown | Norway | - | 5.20% | - | - | 1997 | *LINK* CIA World Factbook web site (viewed Aug. 1998) | Total population: 4,399,993 (1997 est.). Evangelical Lutheran 87.8% (state church), other Protestant and Roman Catholic 3.8%, none 3.2%, unknown 5.2% (1980) |
| Anglican | Nova Scotia | 129,600 | 14.40% | - | - | 1991 | Gall, Timothy L. & Susan Bevan Gall (editors). Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Canadian Provinces. Detroit: U.X.L. (1997), pg. 102. [Orig. source: Canadian Census] | "In 1991, 54.1% of the population, or about 486,900 people, was Protestant, including... 129,600 Anglicans, 99,900 Baptists, 31,500 Presbyterians... " |
| Anglican | Nova Scotia | 128,400 | 14.41% | - | - | 1991 | *LINK* web site: "Statistics Canada "; web page: "Population, by religion, 1991 Census " (viewed 9 Jan. 1999); Source: Statistics Canada, Catalogue no. 93-319-XPB. | table: "Population, by religion, 1991 Census " |
| Associated Gospel Churches of Canada | Nova Scotia | - | - | 4 units |
- | 1998 | *LINK* official organization web site | Counted churches listed in directory. |