Archbishop Stefan of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Archive photo: MIA

A new survey based on three WIN/Gallup International polls and published in the UK Telegraph shows people in the Balkans are far more religious than their counterparts in Western Europe.

The survey, which draws on three polls taken over a number of years, and turns them into a world map, suggests religion remains a more powerful factor in people’s minds, and in society, in all the former communist states of the Balkan region – with the partial exceptions of Bulgaria and Albania.

Kosovo, Macedonia and Romania emerge as the most self-consciously religious societies in the region, and in Europe; 88 per cent of people in Macedonia, 83 in Kosovo and 77 per cent in Romania consider themselves religious.

Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Greece all come close, some way behind, with 70 to 72 per cent of their populations considering themselves religious. Bosnia comes next on 65 per cent.

Bulgaria is some way behind; only 52 per cent of the population there deem themselves religious.

Albania is the only country in the Balkan region with a “Western-style” attitude to religion – only 39 per cent of the population consider themselves religious, exactly the same percentage as Austria and Hungary, and a little more than Spain (37 per cent).

In Western Europe, Italy, the seat of the Catholic Church, is the only country where the overwhelming majority of the population consider themselves religious – 74 per cent.

Elsewhere, figures tend to be much lower – 30 per cent in the UK, 26 per cent in the Netherlands and 34 per cent in Germany.

The far north of Europe is particularly non-religious. A mere 16 per cent of Estonians have any religious feelings, rising to 19 per cent in Sweden and 21 per cent in Norway.

The picture is very mixed in Central Europe, ranging from 86 per cent in Poland to only 23 per cent in the Czech Republic.

Elsewhere in the world, African, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asia countries tend to be very religious; the figures there range from the mid to late-nineties.

Asia is also home to the two least religious societies in the world, however – China and Japan, where a paltry 7 per cent and 13 per cent confess to having religious feelings.

The survey was produced to mark World Religion Day on January 14.