Religion in Sweden

3. Sweden's secular alternatives

Since the Church of Sweden was separated from the state in 2000, Sweden has no official state church. 

With only around 51 per cent of the population being members of the Church of Sweden, Sweden is a highly secular country.  

Many people choose alternative, non-religious rituals rather than traditional religious ceremonies. For example, the Church of Sweden only officiates about 25 per cent of weddings today, compared with 80 per cent in 1970. Parents can also hold non-religious ‘name-giving’ ceremonies for infants, celebrating the arrival of a child without a christening or any Bible readings.  

For young people, there is even the option of secular coming-of-age programmes, which provide a moment of reflection and celebration without religious instruction or scripture, similar in structure to a confirmation but entirely non-religious. 

4. The ritual role of Christianity

In many Swedes’ lives, religion and the church are most visible when traditional rituals or ceremonies are performed. Chief among these are christenings, marriages and funerals. The celebration of powerful Swedish cultural traditions such as Lucia can also include a church service and hymn singing. 

The calendar reflects the religious heritage in Sweden, with many Christian holidays around the year. Though people rarely celebrate them by going to church, Twelfth Night  (6 January, also known as Epiphany),  Ascension,  Pentecost and  All Saints’ Day  are each official public holidays in Sweden, as well as the Easter days. 

Like elsewhere in the West,  Christmas  in Sweden follows the Christian tradition, and Advent is central to the Swedish festive period and the countdown to Christmas Eve. However secular modern-day Sweden may be, these holidays are certainly welcomed by religious and non-religious Swedes alike. 

5. Islam in Sweden

Muslims make up the largest non-Christian faith group in Sweden today. The number has grown steadily since the middle of the 20 century.  

The first Muslim to become a Swedish citizen while keeping his faith was Ebrahim Umerkajeff, who arrived from Russia in 1897. He established Sweden's first Muslim association in 1949, which later became a congregation.  

In present-day Sweden, a handful different Islamic faith organisations exist on the national level, along with several hundred local congregations across the country. These organisations and congregations include a wealth of different confessional and theological branches – among them Shia, Sunni, Ahmadiyya and various Sufi branches. 

There are some purpose-built mosques in Sweden, but also many other places of prayer, so-called basement mosques. 

6. Judaism in Sweden

Jews are one of  Sweden's five official national minorities and Yiddish one of the officially recognised minority languages. 

When Jews started settling in Sweden at the end of the 17th century, Sweden demanded that they convert to Christianity, more specifically Lutheranism. Then, at the end of the 18th century, a Jewish man named Aaron Isaac came to Sweden from Germany. Isaac went on to found a Jewish congregation in Stockholm. In 1870, Sweden granted Jews full civil rights. 

During the 20th century, many Jews came to Sweden from Russia, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, former Czechoslovakia and Poland. In 1951, Sweden implemented freedom of religion, which meant that Jews – or any other individual in Sweden – were no longer required to be members of a religious community. 

Today's Jewish congregations and synagogues include the three main branches of Western Judaism: Reform, Conservative and Orthodox. 

7. Other Christian churches

Next to the Church of Sweden, the most prominent Christian churches are the Free Churches (frikyrkor). The Free Churches are also Protestant but independent of the Church of Sweden. They are characterised by Evangelical, Pentecostal, Methodist and Baptist elements. 

Increased immigration has contributed to greater religious diversity overall. The Catholic Church in Sweden reports increased membership and cites immigrants as a primary source. And then there are many country-specific Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, of which the Serbian Orthodox and the Syrian Orthodox are the largest. 

8. Buddhism in Sweden

Buddhism is Sweden’s third-largest religion behind Christianity and Islam.  

Organised Buddhism began to take root in Sweden during the 1970s, primarily through the efforts of Swedish converts. Over the decades, the community has diversified, with contributions from different immigrant groups.  

All three of Buddhism’s major branches – Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana – are practised among Buddhists in Sweden. There is a diverse array of Buddhist temples and meditation centres in the country, a majority of them in the Stockholm region. 

Since 2019, the Swedish Buddhist Community serves as the national umbrella organisation. With more than 25 member organisations, it represents a wide array of Buddhist traditions.  

9. Hinduism in Sweden

Hinduism is a small minority religion in Sweden.  

The first organised Hindu community in Sweden was founded in the early 1980s with the Hindu Mandir Society in Stockholm. In 1998, it opened its first purpose-built temple in Stockholm suburb Helenelund. 

Most of Sweden’s Hindu temples are located in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Mariestad, Helsingborg and Uppsala. These temples reflect two of the main Hindu branches, Vaishnavism and Shaivism, as well as modern devotional movements like Swaminarayan and ISKCON. 

Many temples adapt rituals to serve a wider community, allowing Hindus from different traditions to participate, learn and maintain connections.

10. Religion in everyday life

For many people in Sweden, religion is not a central part of everyday life. But Swedish society is generally open and free, so everyone is free to practise their faith, attend services and celebrate religious holidays.  

However, most Swedes tend to take a secular approach to culture and social norms. Community and social activities are typically organised around non-religious interests.  

In short, religion is quietly accommodated but not widely integrated into everyday life.

11. From religious fervour to freedom

Sweden was the last Scandinavian country to be Christianised by Catholic missionaries in the 12 century. Then, by the end of the 1500s, Sweden completed its transformation from Catholic to Protestant. 

During the subsequent period, the state identified itself closely with the new Lutheran religion and punished deviation from state-sanctioned beliefs. Until 1858, people who converted to Catholicism could be punished by exile. In the 1600s, Swedish King Gustav II Adolf even led Sweden to war in the Thirty Years’ War in Germany, ostensibly to defend the Protestant faith. 

Despite this draconian past, Sweden has become a country that today favours religious freedom. Since 1951, freedom of religion has been enshrined in Swedish law.