Faith is marking time. According to a Ifop-Fiducial survey carried out for Sud Radio and revealed this Friday, 44% of those questioned say they believe in God against 49% in 2021, and with marked differences according to age groups, place of residence and standard of living in particular.
To the question, “Do you personally believe in God?” », a majority of 56% answer no and 44% answer yes. A majority of respondents still answered in the affirmative in previous surveys: thus, 55% said they were believers in 2004 and 56% in 2011.
A slight difference between men and women
The 18-24 age group is the one who believes in God the least (36% compared to 64% who do not believe in him), but the age group just above, that of 25-34 years, accounts for 47% of believers. Then we fall back to 38% of believers in the 35-49 age group. They are 46% in the 50-64 age group, and 50% among those aged 65 and over. On the other hand, the difference is minimal between men and women: 45% of men and 44% of women claim to be believers.
Faith varies according to income: it is lower both among the wealthiest (more than 2,500 euros per month per person at home) with 40% who claim to be believers, and among the poorest (less than 900 euros per month per person at home), 39% of whom claim to be believers. It is in the lower middle class (from 1,300 to 1,900 euros) that the proportion of people claiming to be believers is the highest (48%).
Strong difference between urban and rural
By political affinity, the lowest rate of people saying they believe in God is among EELV sympathizers (31%) and the highest among Republicans (69%). The rate is close to the national average among RN (44%) or LFI (42%) sympathizers, slightly higher among those of the PS (49%) or Renaissance (50%).
Finally, belief in God is much stronger in the Paris conurbation (59%) than in the rural communes (37%), while the provincial urban communes (43%) are close to the national average.
Survey conducted online on April 4 and 5, 2023 among a representative sample of 1,006 people aged 18 and over, according to the quota method.