More Icelanders Leave National Church Than Join

In all 493 individuals deregistered from the National Church in the second quarter of this year and of those roughly 60% chose not to register with another religious institution, reports RÚV. In the same time period only 83 individuals were registered with the national church.

This exodus is similar to the one seen last year when roughly 2.000 people left the national church. In the last two decades between 1.000-2.000 Icelanders have deregistered from the national church annually with the exception of 2010 which saw a spike of 5.000 people leaving the church.

According to Statistics Iceland, 17.217 people in Iceland are unaffiliated with any religious institution though 244.440 people are still registered with the national church.

By law, children of mothers registered in the national church are registered in it by default. Leaving the church, as well as registering with another religious institution, involves a short application process (in Icelandic).