Religiosity in Polish society is relatively stable, a recent survey by CBOS polling center indicates. Church attendance figures for young people, though still very high, have slipped when compared to early 1990s. But religiousness of Polish youth is still exceptional on international scale, experts explain.

Joanna Najfeld reports

According to the survey by CBOS polling center, carried out on the sample of 908 people between January and June 2009, about half of young Poles aged 18 to 24 declare they go to Church once a week or more often. Another 40% go to Church on irregular basis, and one in ten people in this age bracket doesn't practice religion at all.

Some media have emphasized that the practice of religion among people between 18 and 24 years of age has decreased since early 1990s, when as much as two thirds declared to be practicing Catholicism regularly. However, at that time, there were still many people who practiced religion for patriotic reasons, as a way to express their opposition to recently defeated communism. These people later left the Church, causing the statistics to fall. But the current percentage of young Poles who admit to serious commitment to religion is still very high, experts explain.

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