Newly released figures from the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey confirm that church attendance in Britain remains below pre-Covid levels and that there are no signs of a revival among young people.
The data – published by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) – shows that within Britain’s adult population, only 5% attend a Christian service weekly – down from 8% in 2018.
Only 4% of under 35s attend a Christian service at least once a week – consistent with figures since 2017 which have ranged from 3% to 5%.
Even among those who identify as Christians, only one in eight (13%) say they attend a religious service at least once a week – well below the 20% recorded in 2018 before the outbreak of Covid and similar to the 12% recorded during the pandemic in 2021.
Christians aged 18 to 34 are slightly more likely than those aged 55 and over to say they attend a service at least once a month. However the researchers say this was also the case before the pandemic and is therefore “not necessarily evidence of a recent youth revival”.
The idea that congregations are getting younger is also dismissed by the researchers, who say this is more likely to reflect “a loss of older worshippers rather than an influx of younger ones” as weekly attendance among those aged 70 and older has halved since 2017 from 18% to 9%.
Monthly attendance has fallen across all age groups since 2017.
Further afield, attendance levels among non-Christian religions has also dropped “suggesting Covid-19 may have had a lasting impact on religious observance across all faith communities in Britain”.
The findings are based on polling conducted in autumn 2025. Addressing the Bible Society’s now withdrawn ‘Quiet Revival’ report, NatCen says there is “no evidence” that younger Christians are leading a religious revival. Bible Society withdrew its Quiet Revival report in March, blaming faulty data from YouGov which carried out polling on its behalf.
“While it is true that those aged under 35 who identify as Christian are somewhat more likely than older Christians to attend services monthly, BSA data show that this pattern has been the same since well before the pandemic. It does not represent a revival,” NatCen said.
“At the same time, monthly attendance among Christians aged under 35 stands at 26%, well below the average of 36% recorded in the three years before the pandemic.”
In addition to this, only a quarter of young people identify as Christian compared to over half (52%) of those aged 55 and over.
Leading statistician Sir John Curtice said, “The evidence from the British Social Attitudes survey is clear: there has been no revival in Christian observance in Britain.
“Church attendance remains below pre-pandemic levels across all age groups, and the suggestion that younger people are leading a religious renewal is not borne out by the data.
“Covid-19 appears to have had a more lasting effect on religious practice in Britain than many had hoped and that extends to faith communities beyond Christianity too.”
The latest BSA findings have been published just days after the Church of England published data on attendance showing that although there has been a year-on-year increase since the pandemic, numbers of worshippers remain below 2019 levels.