A new study from the United Kingdom has found that among members of Gen Z in the U.K., Catholics now outnumber Anglicans 2 to 1 — part of a pattern observed across all age groups whereby participation in Catholicism has risen in recent years while Anglicanism has declined. 

A report from the Bible Society, a U.K. charity that translates and distributes the Bible worldwide, found that the practice of Christianity in general is growing in the U.K. after decades of decline, driven by a growing participation of young adults, and young men in particular. 

The study, based on YouGov surveys commissioned by the Bible Society, also concluded that many young people are seeking community and belief in God, and that in an age of poor mental health, distraction, and fragmentation wrought by social media, many are interested in prayer and in the Bible. 

“The results of this thorough and robust study demonstrate that over the space of only six years, there has been a significant growth in the numbers of people going to church; Christians are practicing their religion more intentionally; more young people are finding faith; more people are reading the Bible,” the report’s introduction reads. 

According to the report, the youngest group studied is now the second most likely group in the U.K. to attend church, with 16% of 18- to 24-year-olds saying they are monthly churchgoers compared with 19% of those over age 65. 

In addition, over a fifth of men aged 18 to 24 (21%) now say they are attending church monthly, higher than their female peers at 12%. 

Among those 18- to-24-year-olds, only 20% of churchgoers identify as Anglican, down from 30% in 2018, compared with 41% identifying as Catholic and 18% as Pentecostal.

Among the populations studied, 18- to-24-year-olds were the most likely to say they believe there is “definitely a God/gods or higher power,” at 33%, and also the most likely to pray regularly, with 23% saying they pray at least daily compared with 17% of the rest of the population, and a total of 37% saying they pray at least monthly compared with 30% of the rest of the population.

However, the report also found that the highest rates of Bible reading are within Baptist, independent evangelical, new churches, and Pentecostal expressions, all of which reported weekly Bible reading at around 90%. The lowest weekly Bible reading rates are among Anglicans and Catholics, at 61% and 56% respectively. 

The report’s authors, painting a hopeful picture for the future, concluded that Gen Z is more spiritually engaged than most other living generations, and that this openness presents a significant opportunity for outreach and engagement. 

The report also emphasized the positive impacts of churchgoing for individual and community well-being, noting that churchgoers report higher life satisfaction, a greater feeling of community connection, and lower rates of depression and anxiety. They are also more likely to be socially engaged and charitable. 

The Bible Society’s recent study comes following reports earlier this year that Mass attendance levels in the U.K., though not yet near pre-pandemic levels, are rising. 

Stephen Bullivant, director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society at St. Mary’s University in Twickenham, London, told CNA in February he is “tentatively hopeful that this trend for modest (re)growth will continue in subsequent years.”

He pointed to a 2024 article he wrote for the Tablet in which he noted that while Mass attendance in the U.K. has significantly decreased over the past several decades — leading to projections of a near-extinction of Catholicism — such dire projections seem unlikely due to signs of growth in some areas of U.K. Catholic life. 

That said, Mass attendance stood at roughly 829,000 across England, Wales, and Scotland on a “typical Sunday” in 2019, Bullivant wrote, meaning attendance still has a long way to climb before it reaches pre-pandemic levels, if ever. 

In addition, a late 2024 study showed that the sexual abuse crisis deeply affected Catholics in Britain, with a third of Mass-goers saying they have reduced their Mass attendance because of concerns about the child sexual abuse crisis.

In his article, however, Bullivant pointed to signs of renewed vigor and new growth in some areas in the Church in the U.K., such as anecdotal reports of increased attendance at Easter services and relatively large numbers of adult converts, thriving university chaplaincies, and vibrant diasporic and immigrant communities, suggesting that while secularization has deeply impacted the Church, it is unlikely to result in complete disappearance. 

“To put it frankly, rumors of the Church’s death — albeit four decades hence — have been very greatly exaggerated,” Bullivant wrote. 

“There’s a big difference between ‘not dying out’ and ‘bursting with new life,’ however,” he noted. “British Catholicism might be the former, but that needn’t mean it’s anything close to the latter.”