Dissection of a religious revival:
a case study of Georgia
Marion Burkimsher
University of Lausanne
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Main religions of Georgia and its neighbours
Georgia: Georgian Orthodox
Armenia: Armenian Apostolic church (Orthodox)
Azerbaijan: Muslim (predominantly Shia)
Russia: Russian Orthodox
Turkey: Muslim (predominantly Sunni)
Data sources
World Values Survey (WVS)
Repeated cross-sectional surveys, 96 countries
Georgia 1996 and 2008
2008 and 1500 respondents
European Values Study (EVS)
Successor to WVS, 47 countries surveyed in 2008
Georgia 1500 respondents
Generation and Gender Survey (GGS)
3 wave longitudinal study:
Georgia 2006, 2009, 2012:
10,000 respondents in wave 1
European Social Survey (ESS)
5 waves, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010
Does not include Georgia, does include Turkey and Russia
Proportion of each age group attending religious services
at least once a month
Women
Men
70
60
50
%
40
30
20
10
0
18-21
22-26
27-31
32-36
37-41
42-46
47-51
52-56
57-61
62-66
67-71
72-76
77-80
Age group
Data source: GGS wave 1, 2006
How unusual is Georgia’s religious landscape?
• Age differentials
• Cohort differentials
• Cohort trends over time
• Trends of young people over time
• Changes in individual religiosity over life course
• Trends in relation to Human Development Index
Variable considered is ‘attendance at religious services’, with
frequency of at least once a month defining an ‘attender’
Pattern of religious attendance by
country
Proportion of older people who are attenders (%)
100
Ratio 2:1 of old:young
attendance rates
Nigeria
Rwanda
Ireland
90
Ghana
80
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Philippines
70
60
Lithuania
50
Ratio 1:1 of old:young
attendance rates
Greece
Spain
Turkey
Luxembourg
40
Netherlands
Bosnia/Herz
Belgium
Switzerland
Hungary
Australia
Azerbaijan
Andorra
30
A rmenia
Georgia
Bulgaria
20
Japan
Russia
10
China
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Proport ion of young people who are att enders (%)
Georgia data from WVS 2008
Cohort differentials in attendance rates, older cohorts
100
Belgium
D enmark
Spain
90
Finland
Franc e
80
Average attendance rates, %
A us tria
G reat Britain
I reland
70
I taly
N etherlands
60
N orway
P ortugal
Sweden
50
Switzerland
Bulgaria
40
C zec h Rep
E s tonia
30
G eorgia
H ungary
20
Latvia
P oland
10
Romania
Rus s ia
0
1930s
1940s
1950s
Slovakia
Slovenia
Cohort bands
Data sources: WVS and ESS
Trends in religious attendance rates over time
for specific cohort bands: countries experiencing revival
50
Romania 1950s
Romania 1960s
Attendance rate %
40
Romania 1970s
Latvia 1950s
Latvia 1960s
30
Latvia 1970s
Russia 1950s
Russia 1960s
20
Russia 1970s
Georgia 1950s
Georgia 1960s
10
Georgia 1970s
0
1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
Year of surv ey
Solid lines are for the 1950s cohort band; dashed lines for the 1960s; dotted lines for the 1970s
Data sources: Georgia WVS, GGS, EVS; Romania, Latvia, Russia WVS, ESS
Trends in attendance rates of young people (under 30s) Eastern Europe
Bulgaria
C zech Rep
Hungary
Romania
Slovakia
Russian Fed
Ukraine
Latvia
Estonia
Slovenia
1990
1994
Georgia
60
Attendance rate %
50
40
30
20
10
0
1988
1992
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
Data sources WVS, ESS
Change in frequency of religious attendance
between age 12 and time of survey
Georgia
Same >=
monthly
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Increase to
>=monthly
Decrease to
<monthly
Same
<monthly
Russia
Great
Britain
Data source: EVS 2008
Turkey
Religiosity-Human Development Index
100
M alta
N igeria
90
P hilippines
I reland
80
P oland
I ndones ia
70
I ndia
60
P eru
M exic o
Brazil
U nited States
S Korea
I taly
A rgentina
50
P ortugal
I ran
40
C anada
Georgia-highHDI
Georgia-lowHDI
30
A us tria
Romania
T urkey
Spain
M oldova
H ungary
G reat Britain
U kraine
20
V iet N am
10
Latvia Bulgaria
C hina
Belarus
C zec h Rep
Rus s ia
HDI
96
94
92
90
88
86
84
82
80
78
76
74
72
70
68
66
64
62
60
58
56
54
52
50
48
46
0
44
% attenders
South A fric a
Data source: WVS
Religiosity-Human Development Index
100
M alta
N igeria
90
P hilippines
I reland
80
P oland
I ndones ia
70
I ndia
60
P eru
M exic o
Brazil
U nited States
S Korea
I taly
A rgentina
50
P ortugal
I ran
40
C anada
Georgia-highHDI
Georgia-lowHDI
30
A us tria
Romania
T urkey
Spain
M oldova
H ungary
G reat Britain
U kraine
20
V iet N am
10
Latvia Bulgaria
C hina
Belarus
C zec h Rep
Rus s ia
HDI
96
94
92
90
88
86
84
82
80
78
76
74
72
70
68
66
64
62
60
58
56
54
52
50
48
46
0
44
% attenders
South A fric a
Normal (=western) association
Gender
Women are more religiously active than
men
Association in Georgia
Same in Georgia
Education
Either those with teritary education have
highest attendance rates (eg. UK) OR those Those with highest education have
with low education have highest attendance
highest attendance rates
rates (eg. Switz.)
Urban / rural
Rural people tend to be more religious (and Those living in towns and cities are
more traditional)
more religious than rural people
Fertility
Religious women have more children and
Religious women have fewer children
are less likely to remain childless
Ongoing research
Small collaboration between:
Stefan Huber - religious studies, Bern
Odilo Huber - sociologist, Fribourg
Irina Badurashvili - demographer, Georgia
Marion Burkimsher - demographer, Lausanne
Added several questions to GGS wave 3:
1. How often do you pray?
2. How often do you think about religious issues?
3. How often do you experience situations where you have the feeling that
God or something divine intervenes in your life?
4. To what extent do you believe in God or something divine?
5. All in all, how religious would you consider yourself to be?
6. And what about when you were around 11 or 12, how often did you attend
religious services then?
Thank you!
Questions, comments?
What questions should be investigated in this project?
Female
Male
Attenders
Fuzzies
Non-religious
Attenders
Fuzzies
Non-religious
1.37
1.43
1.30
1.50
1.17
0.93
1.60
1.17
1.23
1.63
1.19
0.82
1.52
1.33
0.91
1.70
1.19
0.84
1.69
1.56
1.04
1.50
1.38
0.63
1.56
1.11
1.27
1.13
0.73
1.00
1.55
1.32
1.15
1.49
1.13
0.84
1.71
1.92
2.55
0.66
0.78
1.47
1.68
1.30
1.65
1.14
0.80
0.94
1.41
1.04
0.85
1.12
0.94
0.73
1.24
1.12
0.98
0.69
0.83
0.51
1.44
1.15
1.16
0.98
0.86
0.73
Belgium
1.83
1.37
1.41
1.06
1.32
1.05
Germany
1.38
1.04
0.75
0.72
0.75
0.69
France
1.93
1.37
1.35
1.44
1.05
1.18
Netherlands
1.58
1.42
1.09
1.20
1.04
0.77
1.61
1.20
1.34
1.56
1.12
0.86
1.31
0.83
0.65
1.00
0.70
0.42
1.61
1.21
1.10
1.17
1.00
0.83
Scandinav ia
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Denmark
Estonia
Mean
Catholic
Cy prus
Ireland
Poland
Portugal
Mean (not inc Cy prus)
Secular
United Kingdom
Spain
Mean
Div erse
Austria
Slov enia
Slov akia
Switzerland
Ukraine
Mean
1.74
1.16
0.98
1.26
0.89
0.43
1.67
0.93
1.15
1.00
1.03
0.60
1.60
1.38
1.20
1.36
0.86
0.79
2.08
1.27
0.97
1.44
1.01
0.67
1.75
1.24
1.18
1.74
1.26
0.83
1.77
1.20
1.10
1.36
1.01
0.67
1.02
1.46
1.29
0.85
1.27
0.65
1.86
1.61
1.32
0.56
0.82
0.91
1.20
1.17
1.31
1.03
0.98
0.92
1.36
1.41
1.31
0.81
1.02
0.83
Ex-communist
Bulgaria
Hungary
Russian Federation
Mean
No. waves
Low
Secondary Tertiary
Countries where tertiary educated hav e highest attendance
UK
3
11.4
12.7
20.3
Czech Republic
3
9.9
6.5
14.9
Slovakia
3
34.9
32.8
Estonia
3
3.8
5.3
Netherlands
4
17.4
14.3
38.9
7.3
19.3
Hungary
4
10.0
16.3
France
4
8.1
5.4
17.5
8.5
Portugal
4
31.5
29.3
31.7
Norw ay
4
8.9
9.0
9.1
Countries where low educated hav e highest attendance
44.0
42.5
4
52.7
26.0
19.8
19.8
Switzerland
4
20.3
15.0
14.8
Poland
4
67.1
68.9
G ermany
4
10.8
12.4
Finland
4
8.4
11.0
Sweden
4
7.0
6.6
Spain
4
73.5
14.5
12.8
8.1
13.0
11.2
12.1
Ukraine
3
27.5
26.6
24.8
Ireland
3
Slovenia
Countries where secondary educated hav e highest attendance
Belgium
4
9.1
9.5
5.7
Denmark
4
5.4
6.3
6.2
Data source ESS
2002, 2004, 2006, 2008
Attendance rate by age group an
d population size of place of residence
Data source: WVS 2008
Rural = villages up to 5000 inhabitants
Town = towns5000-500,000 inhabitants
City = 500,000+inhabitants (Tbilisi)
Highest attendance rates for each age group in bold
A ge group
15-29
30-49
50+
Rural
T own
C ity
Rural
T own
C ity
Rural
T own
C ity
% attenders
45%
75%
60%
37%
44%
56%
17%
24%
38%