The Church of Norway, an Evangelical Lutheran denomination, claimed 68.7 percent of the population as registered members at the end of 2020, down from 82.1 percent in 2007. This represents a decrease of approximately 13.4 percentage points over thirteen years. The Church of Norway separated from the state on May 21, 2012, after 473 years as the official state church established during the Reformation in 1539. Prior to separation, the Norwegian Constitution of 1814 declared Norway an Evangelical-Lutheran state, and Article 2 required the King to profess the Lutheran faith. The 2012 amendment removed the state church clause but retained Article 16, which states that the Church of Norway remains Norway's national church and is supported as such by the state. The King must still belong to the Church of Norway according to current constitutional requirements.
Registration in the Church of Norway occurs automatically at birth if one parent is a member, unless parents actively withdraw the child. Individuals can officially leave the Church of Norway through an online exit form managed by the Norwegian Tax Administration since October 2016. The church receives state funding through direct government budget allocation rather than church tax. In 2019, the Church of Norway received 1.7 billion Norwegian kroner in state funding. The state also provides equivalent per-capita funding to registered religious communities outside the Church of Norway based on membership numbers. A registered community receives the same amount per registered member that the state allocates per member to the Church of Norway. This funding mechanism began in 1969 and expanded significantly after 1981.
As of January 1, 2021, the percentage of Norwegians belonging to the Church of Norway had declined to 67.5 percent, representing approximately 3.7 million individuals. Among children aged zero to one year, only 51.7 percent were members of the Church of Norway in 2020, indicating accelerating secularization among younger cohorts. The number of baptisms in the Church of Norway fell from 58,500 in 2010 to 31,800 in 2020. Confirmations declined from 31,800 in 2010 to 24,200 in 2020. Church weddings decreased from 11,500 in 2010 to 7,200 in 2020. These figures demonstrate declining participation in traditional church rites even among nominal members.
The Catholic Church in Norway reported 163,900 registered members as of 2020, representing 3.0 percent of the population. This made Catholicism the largest religious community in Norway outside the Church of Norway. The Catholic presence in Norway remained illegal from the Reformation until 1845, when the Dissenter Act permitted Catholic worship. The first Catholic church in post-Reformation Norway, St. Olav Cathedral in Oslo, was consecrated in 1856. The Catholic Diocese of Oslo, established in 1953, covers all of Norway except the northern Troms and Finnmark regions, which fall under the Territorial Prelature of Trondheim established in 1979. Catholic growth in Norway stems primarily from immigration. Between 2000 and 2020, the Catholic population increased from approximately 42,000 to 163,900, driven largely by migration from Poland, Lithuania, the Philippines, and Latin America. Poles constitute the largest Catholic subgroup, with approximately 90,000 Polish nationals residing in Norway as of 2020.
Islam represents the second-largest registered religious community after Catholicism. The Islamic Council Norway, an umbrella organization, reported approximately 166,000 Muslims in Norway in 2018. The largest registered Islamic organization, Rabita Mosque in Oslo, had 32,800 registered members in 2020. The World Islamic Mission Norway had 18,100 registered members. The Central Jamaat-e Ahl-e Sunnat organization had 17,500 registered members. These figures reflect only formally registered members of specific mosque organizations and likely undercount the total Muslim population. The first purpose-built mosque in Norway, the World Islamic Mission mosque, opened in Oslo in 1986. Major waves of Muslim immigration occurred following labor migration in the 1970s, refugee arrivals from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan from 1980 to 2010, and Syrian refugees from 2015 to 2018.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported 4,600 members in Norway as of 2020. Jehovah's Witnesses reported 12,300 members in 2019. The Pentecostal movement, represented primarily by Pinsebevegelsen (the Pentecostal Movement in Norway), counted approximately 39,000 adherents across 287 congregations in 2020. Pentecostalism arrived in Norway in 1906 through Methodist pastor T.B. Barratt, who experienced Pentecostal phenomena in New York and returned to establish Norway's first Pentecostal congregation in Oslo. The Norwegian Mission Covenant, a free church with roots in the 1800s revival movements, had approximately 13,000 members in 2020. The Methodist Church in Norway reported 11,400 members across 67 congregations in 2020. These free churches operate independently of the Church of Norway but receive the same per-capita state funding as other registered religious communities.
Buddhism in Norway includes multiple traditions and organizations. The Buddhist Federation of Norway reported approximately 15,000 registered Buddhists in 2015. The largest single Buddhist organization, the Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation, had approximately 4,800 registered members in 2020. Tibetan Buddhism has several centers, including Karma Tashi Ling in Kristiansand, established in 1981, and Karma Shedrup Gyaltsen Ling in Tromsø, founded in 1983. The first Buddhist temple in Scandinavia, Chua Quan Am Vietnamese Buddhist temple, opened in Levanger in 1988. Thai Buddhism has grown through marriage migration, with several Thai Buddhist temples operating in Norway since the 1990s. Zen Buddhism maintains practice centers including Oslo Zen Center, founded in 1977.
Hinduism arrived in Norway primarily through immigration from Sri Lanka following the Sri Lankan civil war from 1983 to 2009, and from India and Pakistan. The Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu community established several temples, including Sri Murugan Temple in Oslo, which opened in 1991 and moved to its current purpose-built location in 1995. The Hindu Council of Norway reported approximately 10,000 Hindus in Norway in 2015. The largest Hindu organization by registered membership, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji Gurdwara (Sikh), had 3,200 members in 2020. The Hindu Cultural Center in Oslo had 2,400 registered members in 2020. These figures reflect formally registered members but likely undercount practicing Hindus who have not registered with a specific organization.
Judaism in Norway dates to formal legal recognition in 1851, though the 1814 Constitution explicitly banned Jews from the kingdom until Article 2 was amended in 1851. Det Mosaiske Trossamfund (The Jewish Community in Oslo), established in 1892, is Norway's oldest Jewish congregation. As of 2020, Det Mosaiske Trossamfund had approximately 1,000 members. A smaller congregation, Det Mosaiske Trossamfund in Trondheim, was established in 1905 and has approximately 100 members. The Jewish population peaked at approximately 2,100 before World War II. During the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, 772 Norwegian Jews were deported to concentration camps; 34 survived. The current Jewish population includes Holocaust survivors, their descendants, and immigrants primarily from Israel and the former Soviet Union. Oslo Synagogue, completed in 1920 at Bergstien 13, remains the primary Jewish worship space in Norway.
The Human-Etisk Forbund (Norwegian Humanist Association), founded in 1956, provides secular life ceremonies as an alternative to religious rites. As of 2020, the Humanist Association had approximately 97,000 registered members, making it the largest registered worldview community in Norway. The association performs civil naming ceremonies for infants as alternatives to baptism, secular confirmations for adolescents, and civil weddings and funerals. In 2019, the Humanist Association conducted 11,300 civil confirmations, compared to 24,200 confirmations in the Church of Norway. The association receives the same per-capita state funding as religious communities despite its explicitly non-religious character. This funding has generated ongoing political debate about the definition of qualifying belief systems under Norwegian law.