THE KUKMIN DAILY

On December 19, the Korea National Statistical Office (KOSTAT) announced the 2015 Census of Population and Households, in which the religious population sample counts revealed that Protestant Christianity ranks at the top among the whole religious affiliated population. This result was somewhat unexpected, because the number of believers has clearly decreased recently according to surveys by major Protestant denominations. The KOSTAT survey result, however, proves the fervent characteristics of Protestantism.





In a telephone conversation with Kukmin Daily, Prof. Lee Won-gyu (sociology of religion, Graduate School of Practical Theology) gave this analysis: “According to a survey by Gallup Korea done early last year, the faithful devotion of Protestant Christians has become stronger over the past 10 years compared to other religions. I think this difference has affected the increase and decrease in numbers of affiliated believers.”

This was the first time for those who claim to be non-religious to account for more than half (56.1%) of the entire population. Prof. Lee said, “The increase of non-religious persons is a typical form of religious secularization, in the same context as the decline of religion in the West. The greater the economy grows, the more value people put on enjoying their lives, rather than getting involved in religion. It can be said that this same trend is being reflected in our country.”

Reporters Jaechan Park, Paek Sang-hyun, Lee Saya, & A-young Kim (jeep@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)
Graphic by Young Eun Lee


Full Story in Korean:
개신교만 교인 증가… 국민 5명 중 1명 ‘교회 다닌다’: 도래 130년 만에 ‘제1의 종교’ 된 개신교… 통계 의미·분석