TORONTO —
A brand new report from Statistics Canada has discovered that Canadians have gotten much less spiritual.
StatCan information launched on Thursday reveals that in 2019, solely 68 per cent of Canadians 15 or older reported having a non secular affiliation.
It is the primary time that fewer than 70 per cent of Canadians reported being religiously affiliated since StatCan started monitoring the info in 1985. Between 2000 and 2017, the share of religiously affiliated Canadians hovered round 77 to 82 per cent, earlier than declining to 75 per cent in 2018.
Solely 23 per cent of Canadians in 2019 reported attending group spiritual actions, reminiscent of church service, not less than as soon as a month. Between 2000 and 2009, that determine was round 30 per cent.
StatCan additionally discovered that faith was changing into much less essential for extra Canadians. The share of people that reported that spiritual or religious beliefs have been considerably essential or crucial was 54 per cent in 2019. Within the mid-2000s, it was round 70 per cent.
Particular person spiritual actions, reminiscent of prayer or meditation, are additionally on the decline. Solely 30 per cent of Canadians reported partaking in such actions not less than as soon as every week, in comparison with 46 per cent in 2006, when the info was first collected.
Religiosity was additionally discovered to be stronger amongst girls in comparison with males. StatCan discovered that 72 per cent of girls reported being affiliated with a faith in comparison with 64 per cent of males. Ladies have been additionally extra more likely to say they pray or have interaction in a private spiritual exercise not less than as soon as every week (18 per cent, in comparison with 14 per cent for males).
The report additionally talked about variations amongst age teams. Spiritual affiliation was the best amongst Canadians born between 1940 and 1959 at 85 per cent, in comparison with 32 per cent for these born between 1980 and 1999.
Throughout the youngest age group, 62 per cent of these born exterior of Canada reported a non secular affiliation, in comparison with 39 per cent of Canadian-born people. The variations between these born in and outdoors Canada have been much less pronounced in older age teams.
Being religiously affiliated was not essentially correlated to putting a excessive significance on faith, StatCan stated. Between 2017 and 2019, 18 per cent of Canadians reported a non secular affiliation whereas additionally indicating that hardly ever or by no means participated in group spiritual actions and thought of their spiritual beliefs to be of little significance to how they reside their lives.
The numbers additionally range tremendously throughout areas. Quebecers, for instance, had a excessive proportion of spiritual affiliation, however a low proportion of spiritual actions.
“It’s fairly doable that regional variations will proceed to develop sooner or later, particularly given the extensively various ranges of immigration and composition of immigrants throughout totally different areas of Canada,” StatCan wrote.
