What we’ve seen so far
TikTok videos showing churches in the US filled with people under 25
Instagram follow requests from young men with Bible verses in their bios
A very young crowd at a live show by RACK, a Greek Gen Z rapper, singing “Jesus Christ Conquers”
There are evident signs that Gen Zs, born between 1997 and 2012, in many countries may be breaking the long-standing trend of each new generation being less religious than the one before it, while media outlets are talking about a “religious revival.”
Gallup data for 2024-2025 shows that while religiosity in the US is at historic lows, one demographic group stands out: young men aged 18 to 29.
Around 42% said religion is “very important” in their lives, up from 28% in 2022-2023 and almost back to the level recorded in 2000-2001 (43%).
Among young women, however, only 29% said religion is “very important” in their lives.
*Historically, women tended to be more religious than men.
Although at first glance it may seem like a gender divide, it is mainly political.
Since 2022-2023, church attendance among young Republicans has risen by 7 percentage points for men and 8 for women. Among young Democrats, it has risen by 3 points for men and remained almost unchanged for women.
This also helps explain why young men overall appear more religious: 48% identify as Republicans or lean Republican, compared with just 27% of young women.
According to Pew Research Center data, young people in the US today are much less religious than young people were in the past.
In 2023-2024, 56% of 18- to 24-year-olds said they identified with a religion, compared with 63% in 2014 and 74% in 2007.
According to Pew, there has been no revival in religiosity among young people, but rather a stabilisation since 2020 following years of decline.
What’s really happening?
According to a Time report, there are two main possibilities:
These isolated examples, such as churches becoming popular among young people, could mark the beginning of a broader return to religion among Gen Z, which may show up in large-scale surveys in the coming years.
There is no widespread religious revival. There have always been individual churches that have managed to attract large numbers of young people, and social media simply makes these “exceptions” much more visible.
The UK example
In the UK, two YouGov surveys found that regular church attendance among 18- to 24-year-olds rose from 4% in 2018 to 16% in 2024.
At the same time, the British Social Attitudes Survey found that the share of Christians aged 18 to 34 who regularly attended church fell from 8% in 2018 to 6% in 2024.
According to the BBC, the difference lies in the methodology. In the first case, participants chose to take part, while the second survey used random sampling.
In Greece, 80.3% of 17- to 24-year-olds believe in God, slightly above the 79.9% average across all age groups, according to a diaNEOsis report published in 2024.
More specifically, 46.4% of 17- to 24-year-olds say they feel very close to religion, compared with 44.2% of 25- to 39-year-olds.
According to social scientists, during periods of crisis, such as war, economic downturns or pandemics, people tend to seek stability, meaning and certainty, which they may find in religion.
In other cases, higher levels of religious belief may be linked to migration, higher birth rates among certain religious groups or even government policies that promote a particular religion.
A 2024 study found that turning to religion helps some young men cope with anxiety about not living up to traditional standards of masculinity, such as financial strength and success.
Social media reinforces this trend, with influencers and podcasters linking religion with masculinity.
For some young men, religion therefore serves first as a source of identity and then develops into regular religious practice.
