Perceptions photos on Flickr

4

Gallup International indicates that 41%] of American citizens report they regularly attend religious services, compared to 15% of French citizens, 10% of UK citizens, and 7.5% of Australian citizens.

However, Hadaway, Marler, and Chaves found during the early 1990s that church attendance was only about 20% on an average Sunday in one rural Ohio county, whereas self-reported church attendance was 36%. Many people over-report church attendance because of their self-perception and identity as churchgoing people; this indicates a certain psychological aspect to the overreporting of church attendance.

Although questions of church attendance are intended by polling organizations to study Americans' religious behavior, many respondents view them as questions about their identity. This is especially true among those Americans who consider themselves "regular churchgoers." Despite many news outlets attempting to cash in on these findings by claiming that Americans "lie" about their church attendance, Hadaway et al. have been extremely wary of accusing these over-reporters of dishonesty; as they found in one study, those who over-report do so mainly to maintain perceptions of themselves as "churched" Americans, not because they are afraid to reveal to the interviewer that they are "bad Christians."

The country with the highest rate of church attendance in the world is Nigeria (89%). Nigeria is unusual, as it is very religiously diverse - the population is 50.5% Muslim, 48.2% Christian.

Church attendance in developed countries has gradually declined. Research has attributed this to lack of motivation, negative media coverage of religion and boredom during the services.

One study published in the Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, however, argues that at least in America, church attendance since the 1990s has remained stable at 25%. A Gallup poll found that church attendance among Protestants has remained stable at roughly 45% since 1955, while church attendance among Catholics has dropped from 75% to 45%, although it has remained stable since 1995, despite negative stories in the news.

Another Gallup poll found a slight increase in church attendance over the past two years; associating this with an aging population.

This decline is particularly pronounced in European countries, where it is suggested that the secular culture overrides interest in religion.

Church attendance remains stronger among older adherents, and more common in women. Some research asserts that younger generations show greater levels of religious adherence than the baby boomers, many of whom brought up their children in a non-religious environment.

Another study associated church attendance with decreased risk of Alzheimer's Disease.

The Pew Research Center has linked weekly church attendance with happiness.

The Iona Institute found increasing church attendance in Ireland, despite sex-abuse claims within the dominant Catholic Church. The authors suggest the rise is due to the effects of the recession.

A 2005 EU survey found that belief was higher among women, increased with age, those leaning towards right-wing politics, and those reflecting more upon philosophical and ethical issues.

Studies in general indicate that there is a higher rate of church attendance among married couples and those with bachelor's degrees than any other group. For instance, in a Pew Research survey from 1996, approximately 34% of high school dropouts went to church on a typical Sunday, while 44% of those with a college degree or higher did. 48% of married individuals attended church on a typical Sunday, compared to 29% of divorced and 31% of never-married individuals. While it is likely that the well-educated and married might over-report their church attendance more often, nevertheless these findings demonstrate that they have maintained a stronger church-going identity than other Americans.

Tags Perceptions

View allAll Photos Tagged Perceptions