Ministry of Culture Publishes Report on Religious Statistics
According to the Report of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine “On the status and trends of development of the religious situation and church-state relations in Ukraine,” Christian denominations dominate the religious organizations network in Ukraine, the Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF) has reported.
The Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic religious organizations make up nearly 94% of the religious network of the country.
Surveys show that the increase in the number of religious institutions has become stable in the last four years and its rate is about 2% with some tendency to a decrease.
In 2012, the total number of religious organizations increased by 1.4% in comparison to the previous year. In 2011, that indicator was 1.8%, in 2010 it was 1.9%, in 2009 it was 2% and in 2008 1.8%.
Among the Christian denominations, Orthodoxy dominates in Ukraine. In 2013, it totaled 19,107 religious organizations as compared to 1,7071 organizations in 2009. The Orthodox communities still make up 51.6% of the total number of religious communities of the country.
Protestant religious organizations totaled 10,613 communities which makes up 28.7% of the whole religious network of Ukraine. In the beginning of 2009, the number of Protestant religious organizations totaled 9,595 making up 27.8%. The last four years showed a tendency to an increase of the share of the Protestants (1% growth) in the country’s religious structure.
Catholicism in Ukraine is represented by two jurisdictions, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Their institutional networks include 5,029 communities making up 13.6% of the total number of the country’s religious organizations as compared to 4,477 communities or 13.0% in 2009. In the last four years, they showed a slight increase in their share of the country’s religious structure.
During the last year, the total number of religious communities in all the regions of Ukraine has increased and reached 37,000.
