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Church Services: Attendance

Answer

The National Church Institutions first started collecting attendance data centrally in the autumn of 2000; as a result, it is not possible to publish data for the period 1994-1999. A methodological change also took place between 2000 and 2003 which means statistics for those years are not directly comparable with the data now collected. The data displayed below shows the longest period of comparable figures available, from 2003-2022.

	Adult average weekly attendance	Child average weekly attendance	All age average weekly attendance	Adult average Sunday attendance	Child average Sunday attendance	All age average Sunday attendance	Adult average school service attendance	Child average school service attendance	All age average school service attendance
2003	905,000	218,000	1,126,000	802,000	154,000	959,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2004	896,000	220,000	1,119,000	789,000	151,000	942,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2005	898,000	218,000	1,119,000	791,000	147,000	941,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2006	894,000	217,000	1,115,000	786,000	145,000	935,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2007	888,000	205,000	1,097,000	779,000	137,000	919,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2008	877,000	215,000	1,094,000	768,000	139,000	910,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2009	867,000	211,000	1,082,000	758,000	134,000	895,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2010	851,000	208,000	1,062,000	741,000	130,000	874,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2011	840,000	207,000	1,050,000	728,000	127,000	858,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2012	843,000	202,000	1,049,000	733,000	128,000	864,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2013	836,000	157,000	994,000	721,000	124,000	845,000	23,000	103,000	126,000
2014	831,000	144,000	975,000	711,000	119,000	830,000	35,000	113,000	148,000
2015	819,000	140,000	959,000	698,000	115,000	813,000	40,000	131,000	171,000
2016	791,000	132,000	922,000	671,000	108,000	780,000	42,000	139,000	182,000
2017	767,000	127,000	895,000	653,000	104,000	757,000	46,000	152,000	198,000
2018	752,000	120,000	872,000	635,000	96,000	730,000	40,000	137,000	177,000
2019	734,000	120,000	854,000	613,000	94,000	707,000	41,000	141,000	182,000
2020	317,000	28,000	345,000	273,000	24,000	298,000	n/a	n/a	n/a
2021	531,000	75,000	605,000	447,000	62,000	509,000	18,000	71,000	89,000
2022	567,000	87,000	654,000	477,000	70,000	547,000	36,000	128,000	164,000

Attendance figures are collected from churches for the first 4 Sundays of October and in the following Monday-Saturday midweek periods - this exercise is referred to as the "October count”. Figures include attendance at baptisms, as these usually take place in service, but not attendance at weddings and funerals. Attendance at services for schools is NOT included in the average weekly and average Sunday attendance figures but is reported separately.

In 2013, the question was changed to specifically ask about attendance at school services. Prior to 2013, it was apparent that some churches included such attendance in their reported figures while others did not. The change in question during this year resulted in a large change in the average weekly attendance from 2012 to 2013 and a more consistent practice across the church as a whole.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

19961

Session

2023-24

Subjects

Attendance Church services

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk