Îmbătrânirea demografică și practică religioasă în România: 1990-2018
Population Ageing and Religious Practice in Romania: 1990-2018

Summary/Abstract: In Romania, as is the case in other Central and Eastern European states, there was a revival of religious practice after the fall of communism. In addition to the series of explanations proposed in the literature to understand this trend, we bring arguments for a hypothesis that starts from a demographic perspective. The main idea discussed in this paper is that the evolution of the population structure has consequences on its values and beliefs. In this article, we are looking at the evolution of the age structure of the Romanian population. As a result of improving life expectancy, decreasing fertility and a consistently negative net migration, there has been a steady increase in the share of the elderly in population in recent years. This article analyses the relationship between ageing population and religious practice in Romania after 1989. Based on data from 22 opinion polls and administrative data, using correlation analysis specific to small samples, we show that there is a positive association between population ageing and church attendance during the reference period. This association is also preserved when we consider factors suggested by alternative hypotheses, such as the economic situation of the elderly and the economic context of Romania at different moments during the period considered here.

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