Saturday, January 26, 2013

Austrian church decline slows

The latest statistics on church membership in Austria show a gradual decline, following the steep one that followed abuse revelations in 2010.

The statistics for 2012 published in mid-January showed that 0.74 per cent of Austria's 5.4 million Catholics left the Church in 2012.

It left Austria with 5.36 million Catholics. 

Together with other Christian denominations, this meant that 78 per cent of Austrians were members of a Christian Church.

After the abuse revelations of 2010, 85,960 Catholics left the Church, the highest number since the Second World War. 

This figure dropped to 59,023 in 2011 and this year's figure of 52,425 was lower than that of 2009, when it was 53,269. 

The number of baptisms rose from 48,781 in 2010 to 49,275 in 2012.