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Church
Statistics, whilst not perhaps the most gripping reading, give
important information about the shape and numerical health of
the Church. Over a sustained period the Church of England has
seen numerical decline.
Three measures of attendance are
used. The most useful for long-term comparisons is the figure for Usual
Sunday Attendance (USA).
In 2000 the Church statisticians dropped the USA figure in favour
of two new figures - Average Sunday Attendance and
Average Weekly Attendance (both based
on a 4 week survey conducted in October) which gave higher figures.
Usual Sunday Attendance
The figures for Usual Sunday Attendance are not collected on
a uniform basis from Diocese to Diocese, however, they do give
a good indication of medium-term trends. For a long-term
trend (over 40 years) figures for Easter and Christmas communicants
are the only attendance figures available.
On the basis of these
figures in the decade to 1980 the Church of England lost around
30,000 members per year. In the 1980s this decline slowed
to around 10,000 a year but decline accelerated in 1992 (the
year when women were ordained as priests) to around 20,000 average per year though in the last 3 years the anual fall appears to be less severe.
Year
|
Usual Sunday Attendance |
1968
|
1,606,000 |
| |
|
| 1970 |
1,542,000 |
| 1978 |
1,243,000 |
| |
|
| 1980 |
1,230,000 |
| 1984 |
1,182,000 |
| 1986 |
1,167,000 |
| |
|
| 1990 |
1,143,000 |
| 1991 |
1,137,000 |
| 1992 |
1,123,000 |
| 1993 |
1,090,000 |
| 1994 |
1,081,000 |
| 1995 |
1,045,000 |
| 1996 |
1,016,000 |
| 1997 |
996,000 |
| 1998 |
977,000 |
| 1999 |
969,000 |
| |
|
| 2000 |
not collected |
| 2001 |
938,000 |
| 2002 |
914,000 |
| 2003 |
901,000 |
| 2004 |
903,000 |
| 2005 |
881,000 |
| 2006 |
871,000 |
| 2007 |
868,000 |
| 2008 |
845,000 |
| 2009 |
826,000 |
Click
graph to enlarge
Average Sunday Attendance
Average Weekly Attendance
These are both calculated
in an attempt to give a more realistic number of those in church
week by week. The figures are calculated over a 4 week
period in October and should be collected in all churches on
a consistent basis.
There is normally a
delay of over a year before the statistics are collated and published
although sometimes provisional figures are released in the autumn
of the year following.
After showing a sharp
fall in AWA in the first two years the 2003 figures suggested
a rise in attendance although this fell back slightly in 2004. This
was mirrored in the ASA figure although the Usual
Sunday Attendance figure
continued to decline.
| Year |
Average Weekly Attendance |
Average Sunday Attendance |
| 2000 |
1,274,000 |
1,058,000 |
| 2001 |
1,205,000 |
1,041,000 |
| 2002 |
1,166,000 |
1,002,000 |
| 2003 |
1,187,000 |
1,017,000 |
| 2004 |
1,186,000 |
1,010,000 |
| 2005 |
1,174,000 |
993,000 |
| 2006 |
1,163,000 |
983,000 |
| 2007 |
1,160,000 |
978,000 |
| 2008 |
1,145,000 |
960,000 |
| 2009 |
1,131,000 |
944,000 |
Children
Figures for adults
and children/young people are collected separately. The
figures for children are given below.
| Year |
Average
Weekly Attendance |
Average
Sunday Attendance |
Usual Sunday Attendance |
| 1997 |
|
|
179,300 |
| 1998 |
|
|
173,900 |
| 1999 |
|
|
169,700 |
| 2000 |
|
|
n/a |
| 2001 |
229,000 |
173,000 |
157,000 |
| 2002 |
228,000 |
167,000 |
151,000 |
| 2003 |
230,000 |
164,000 |
145,000 |
| 2004 |
235,000 |
164,000 |
143,000 |
| 2005 |
232,000 |
158,000 |
137,000 |
| 2006 |
228,000 |
155,000 |
133,000 |
| 2007 |
219,000 |
148,000 |
132,000 |
| 2008 |
225,000 |
148,000 |
127,000 |
| 2009 |
223,000 |
144,000 |
122,000 |
n/a = not available
Sources
Various versions of
Church Statistics published by the Archbishops' Council (previously
by the Central Board of Finance).
See also the statistics
links on the Links page.
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