A third of Czech citizens (33 %) say they believe in God, a slightly lower proportion of the population than in the nineties. However, far fewer (8 %) attend church regularly (at least once a month). The exception is Christmas time when even some people who are not religious go to church. Indeed going to church is regarded as a Christmas tradition by over one third of Czech citizens (36 %).
The STEM survey cited here was conducted on a representative sample of the Czech population aged 18 and over from 3 to 11 December 2015. Respondents were selected using a quota sampling method, with some 1,014 people taking part in the survey.
In the December survey, STEM traditionally asks Czech citizens whether they believe in God. The current survey found that exactly one-third of the population believes in God (33 %). In the years since STEM started conducting its surveys there has been a moderate decline in the proportion of people who are religious (in 1995 some 39 % of respondents said they believed in God). Since 2011 we have found the proportion of those who definitely do not believe in God to be somewhat higher (now 41 %).
One-third of respondents said they had a religious family upbringing. This proportion is also somewhat lower than it was in the mid-nineties. In fact, since 2009 there has been a slight decline in the number of people proclaiming to be from religious families.
Source: STEM, Trends 12/2015, 1014 respondents aged 18+
Source: STEM, Trends 1995-2015
There is a very strong link between religious faith and coming from a religious family, although this connection is by no means absolute. One-quarter of citizens believe in God and also come from a religious family, yet one-tenth believe in God, although their family has no relationship with religion. On the other hand, one-tenth of respondents do not believe in God, even though they come from religious families.
The proportion of people who believe in God is substantially higher among women (37 %) than among men (29 %), the over-60s (41 %) and people from the Moravian regions (45 %), compared to 26 % of those from the Bohemian regions.
Source: STEM, Trends 12/2015, 1014 respondents aged 18+
The proportion of citizens who practice their religion is much lower than the proportion of those who believe in God. Just under one-tenth of the population attends church regularly, at least once a month, with another tenth going to church several times a year.
Source: STEM, Trends 1994-2015
In its pre-Christmas December survey, STEM also asked people whether going to church was one of their Christmas traditions. More than one-third of respondents (36 %) said that church attendance was one of their Christmas traditions, a somewhat lower percentage than in previous surveys (for instance in 1995 some 45 % of respondents answered in the affirmative).
Source: STEM, Trends12/2015, 1014 respondents aged 18+
The majority of people who attend church at Christmas believe in God, but going to church at Christmas is also a tradition for more than one-quarter of families who only somewhat believe in God and even for some who are definitely not religious whatsoever.
Source: STEM, Trends 12/2015, 1014 respondents aged 18 +