Less than half of French believe in God, says survey

A new poll conducted in April 2023 suggests that less than half of the population in France believes in the existence of God.

The polling company Ifop-Fiducial asked: “Do you personally believe in God?” A majority of respondents (56%) answered “no”. If the outcome of this poll published on Good Friday are extensible to the whole population (only 1,006 people were polled), then France would have reached a turning point, since in 56% said in 2011 they believed in God.

According to this survey, it is the 18-24 age group which believes in God the least (36% who do compared to 64% who do not). The next age group (25-34), the number of those who consider themselves believers rises to 47%, a number higher than those aged 35-49 (38%) and those aged 50-64 (46%). Among those aged 65 or more, the number of those who say they believe in God is 50%.

The differences between women and men in this survey were undistinguishable.

Those who say they believe in God are more frequent among those in the “lower middle class” (48%), compared to the poorest (40%) and the richest households (40%).

Interestingly the belief in God was found to be stronger in the Paris area (59%) than in rural France (37%). The closest to the national average were middle-sized cities (43%).

It is important to note that the survey did not distinguish between Christians and adherents to other religions. Neither did it ask if those who consider themselves believers in God attend church services or express any other types of spiritual commitment.