Results of a public opinion poll conducted by the Razumkov Centre Sociological Service with support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Office Ukraine on October 25–31, 2024.

The face-to-face poll was conducted in Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Transcarpathian, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Mykolayiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi regions and the city of Kyiv (in Zaporizhia, Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, Kherson regions — only in the territories controlled by the government of Ukraine and free of hostilities).

The poll was conducted using a stratified multi-stage sample with random selection at the first stages of sampling and quota selection of respondents at the final stage (when respondents were selected on the basis of gender and age quotas). The sample structure reflects the demographic structure of the adult population of the territories where the poll was held as of the beginning of 2022 (by age, gender, settlement type).

2,017 respondents aged 18 years and more were polled. The sample theoretical error does not exceed 2.3%. However, additional systemic deviations in the sample may be caused by the consequences of Russian aggression, in particular, the forced evacuation of millions of citizens.

The full text of the survey report can be found on the Razumkov Centre website at https://razumkov.org.ua/images/2025/01/28/2024-Religiya-religion-FIN.pdf

DEGREE OF RELIGIOSITY, TRUST IN THE CHURCH

Although with the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression, the share of citizens who call themselves believers rose from 68% at the end of 2021 to 74% in November 2022, in 2023–2024 it decreased (to 70.5% in 2023 and 68% in 2024 — from 85% of residents in the West of the country to 55% in the East).

The country’s West is traditionally characterized by a higher level of religiosity (85% here called themselves believers), the East — lower (55%). However, compared to 2000, the share of those who consider themselves believers in the Central, Southern and Eastern regions has increased, while in the Western region it has not changed. Hence, the difference between the regions in the share of believers is decreasing.

Traditionally, the level of religiosity is higher in older age groups, compared to younger ones (in 2024, the share of believers was the lowest among 18–24 year-olds — 52%, in other age groups — from 61% to 76%).

There are more believers among women compared to men (76% and 58%, respectively). The share of believers is higher among villagers (76.5%) than among citizens (63.5%).

The Church is trusted by the majority of Ukrainian citizens. However, compared to 2010, when the level of public trust in the Church was record high (72.5%), now, it is lower — 62.5%. The residents of the Western regions trust the Church the most (78% of respondents). In the Southern regions, 62% trust it, in the Central regions — 61%, and the lowest level of trust in the Church is recorded in the Eastern regions, where only a relative majority of respondents (47%) expressed trust in it, which is only 8% higher than the share of those who do not trust it.

CONFESSIONAL DISTRIBUTION

After 2014, there has been a trend to a decrease in the number of those who consider themselves Orthodox (their share fell from 70% in 2014 to 55% in 2024), while the share of Greek Catholics has become somewhat bigger (it increased from 8% to 12%). 10% called themselves “just Christians”, and 18% answered that they did not belong to any religious denomination.

Confessional self-determination bears a distinct regional specificity. The largest number of the Orthodox is characteristic of the Central regions (67%). In the South, they make 56%, in the East — 53%. In the West of the country, the share of the Orthodox is 38%, while 40% of residents in that part of the country called themselves Greek Catholics. Compared to the other regions, in the West of the country significantly fewer people called themselves “just Christians” (not attributing themselves to a specific Christian denomination, 6%, in other regions — from 10% to 15%). In the West and Centre, fewer people do not identify themselves with any religion (9% and 17%, respectively) than in the Southern and Eastern regions (25% and 29%).

Just as the number of believers increases with age, the share of Orthodox Christians goes up from 41% among young people aged 18–24 to 61% among those aged 60 and over. The younger the respondents are, the greater is the number of those who do not belong to any of religion (from 13% among those aged 60 and over to 33% under 25 years old).

INTER-CHURCH RELATIONS

In recent years, significant changes have been taking place in the church self-determination of Orthodox believers, due both to the change in the organizational structure of Orthodoxy in Ukraine and the impact of Russia's full-scale aggression on public consciousness.

Until 2018, the three largest Orthodox denominations legally and de facto operating in Ukraine were the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church (UAOC), the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC(MP)), and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP). During 2010–2018, the number of faithful of the UOC(MP) has been steadily decreasing (from 24% in 2010 to 12% in 2018), of the UOC-KP — increasing: from 15% in 2010 to 29% in 2018).

In December 2018, the UOC-KP and the UAOC merged into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which in January 2019 received a Tomos of Autocephaly from the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

But in 2020 the number of faithful of the OCU was smaller (20%) than the number of faithful of the UOC-KP in 2018, which reflected a certain disorientation of many believers in their church identification after the UOC-KP Patriarch Filaret’s statements about withdrawing his signature from the decision on the creation of the OCU and declaring his restoration of the UOC-KP. At the same time, the number of those who called themselves “just Orthodox” (that is, Orthodox not belonging to any specific Orthodox church) rose from 23% in 2018 to 27% in 2020 (another 1% did not know which Orthodox church they belonged to). However, as soon as in 2021 the share of those who considered themselves faithful of the OCU reached 24%, in 2022 — 36%, in 2023 — 42% of all respondents. In 2024, 35% of respondents called themselves faithful of the OCU, which corresponds to the level of 2022 and is lower than in 2023. The decrease in the number of faithful of the OCU compared to 2023 correlates with the decrease in the number of the Orthodox compared to the previous year in general (from 61% to 55%).

After the start of Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine, significantly fewer people called themselves faithful of the UOC(MP) (their share fell from 13% in 2021 to 5.5% in 2024).

In recent years, the share of those who consider themselves to be "just Orthodox" has also decreased significantly — from 27% in 2020 to 22% in 2021, 19% in 2022 and 14% in 2024.

In 2024, the share of OCU believers was the largest in the Centre (where they make 45% of all respondents). In the South and West — 28%, in the East — 29.5%. UOC(MP) believers in the Western, Central and Eastern regions make up 5% of respondents, in the Southern — 10%. "Just Orthodox" make a small minority in the Western regions (4%), in other regions — 17–18%.

When describing church and confessional self-determination, researchers most often pay attention to the nominal self-attribution of citizens to one or another church, although the church affiliation should be based on belonging to a certain religious community. Only 25.5% of respondents admitted membership in a community (however, in 2020 they made only 16%).

The largest number of religious community members is recorded among residents of the Western regions (48%). In the Central regions they make 20%, in the East — 17%, in the South — 10%.

Members of religious communities who identified themselves with OCU make up 11% of all respondents (in 2021 — 6%), members of Greek Catholic communities — 7% (in 2021 — 6%). 3% of all respondents called themselves members of UOC(MP) communities (in 2021 — 4%).

The majority (54%) of respondents called the relations between believers of different churches and religions in the area where they live calm. Another 10% called them friendly. While in 2022, compared to 2021, the share of those who called them conflict-ridden increased from 3% to 6%, and of those who called them tense — from 5% to 14%, in 2024, compared to 2022, the assessment of their proneness to conflict has changed little (5%), while the share of those who considered them tense decreased to 9%.

Conflicts or tense relations between believers of different churches were reported by 20% of respondents in the Centre, 13% in the West, 10% in the East, and only 1% in the South.

Answering the direct question: “Between which churches (or representatives of which religions) in the area where you live relations are tense or conflict-ridden?”, respondents usually answered “Between the OCU and the UOC (MP)” (11% of all respondents). Conflicts or tension between the OCU and the UOC (MP) were most often reported by residents of the Central (15%) and Western (12%) regions, among residents of the East — 7%, among residents of the South — only 1%. Among the faithful of the UOC(MP), 19% reported the existence of such conflicts, among the faithful of the OCU — 16%.

Conflicts between other churches are mentioned far less often. Say, only 0.5% of respondents reported conflicts between the Orthodox and Greek Catholics.

Public opinion on the admissibility of state bodies banning the activities of individual churches or religious associations

In August 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law "On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations". The vast majority (74%) of respondents support the provisions of this law, banning the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine (only 10% do not support them), 79% support the provision according to which a religious organization active in Ukraine cannot have a management centre in a state engaged in armed aggression against Ukraine (7% do not support it), 75% support the provision according to which a religious organization active in Ukraine cannot belong to (be part of) a foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine (7% do not support it), 80% support the provision that the propaganda of the ideology of the "Russian world", both directly by a religious organization and by its governing bodies, shall be a reason for a ban on such a religious organization (6% do not support it). The above provisions are supported by the majority of residents of all regions.

SURVEY RESULTS IN TABLES (percentages)

Regardless of whether you go to church or not, who do you consider yourself to be?

* West: Volyn, Transcarpathian, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Chernivtsi regions; Centre: Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Sumy, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernihiv regions; South: Mykolayiv, Odesa, Kherson regions; East: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk regions. The “regional affiliation” of respondents was determined by their area of residence before the start of Russia’s full-scale aggression (i.e., before February 24, 2022). The only exception is that when analyzing the regional distribution of answers to the question “What are the relations between believers of different churches and religions in the area where you live?”, the area of residence of the respondents at the time of the poll was taken into account.

To what extent do you trust the Church?

What religion do you associate yourself with?

Which Orthodox Church do you associate yourself with?

Are you a member of a specific religious community (parish)?

How would you describe the relations between believers of different churches and religions in the area where you live?

In August 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law «On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations». Do you support the following provisions of this law:

https://razumkov.org.ua/napriamky/sotsiologichni-doslidzhennia/riven-religiinosti-dovira-do-tserkvy-konfesiinyi-rozpodil-ta-mizhtserkovni-vidnosyny-v-ukrainskomu-suspilstvi-zhovten-2024r