Religion in Ukraine - Religious Structure of Society

Religious Structure of Society

Estimates compiled by the independent Razumkov Centre in a nationwide survey in 2003 found that 75.2 percent of the respondents believe in God and 22 percent said they did not believe in God. 37.4 percent said that they attended church on regular basis.

As of January 1, 2006, there were 30,507 registered religious organizations, including 29,262 religious communities; the Government estimated that there were approximately 1,679 unregistered religious communities. More than 90 percent of religiously active citizens were Christians, the majority Orthodox. Religious practice was generally stronger in the western part of the country due to Western Ukraine being part of Soviet Union for shorter period(1939–41; 1944–91).

The different confessions in Ukrainian society were estimated by the nationwide survey. The result differ from the official number of registered religious groups. Thus the Russian Orthodox church (today in Ukraine, it is called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)) traditionally (since the times of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union) has enjoyed the favour of many local authorities.

The 2006 Razumkov Centre survey indicates:

• 14.9 percent of believers identify themselves with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate;
• 10.9 percent are adherents of Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (which has the largest number of churches in Ukraine and claims up to 75% of the Ukrainian population);
• 5.3 percent belonged to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (sometimes referred to as the Uniate, Byzantine, or Eastern Rite Church);
• 1.0 percent belonged to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church;
• 0.6 percent belonged to the Roman Catholic Church;
• 0.9 percent identified themselves as Protestants (Pentecostal, Baptist, Lutheran, Mennonites, Adventists);
• 0.1 percent follow Jewish religious practices;
• 3.2 percent said they belonged to "other denominations".
• 62.5 percent stated they are not religious or did not clearly identified their church allegiance (many Orthodox Ukrainians do not clearly self-identify with a particular denomination and, sometimes, are even unaware of the affiliation of the church they attend as well as of the controversy itself, which indicates the impossibility to use the survey numbers as an indicator of a relative strength of the church).

General scope

• Christians - 33.6%
  • Eastern Orthodox - 26.8%
  • Catholic - 5.9%
  • Protestants - 0.9%
• Jewish - 0.1%
• other - 3.8%
• no affiliation/not aware - 62.5%

Religious community

• Christians - 89.6%
  • Eastern Orthodox (Kiev-55.3%, Moscow-40.8%, Autocephalous-3.9%) - 72.0%
  • Catholics (Greek-89.2%, Roman-10.8%) - 15.8%
  • Protestants - 2.4%
• Islam - 0.6%
• Jewish - 0.2%
• others - 9%