‘Quiet revival’ claims ‘laid to rest’ once and for all as latest stats show churchgoing continues to fall

Newly released figures from the British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey confirm that church attendance in Britain stays below pre-Covid levels and that there aren’t any signs of a revival amongst young people. 

The data – published by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) – shows that inside 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 the least once every week – consistent with figures since 2017 which have ranged from 3% to five%. 

Even amongst those that discover as Christians, just one in eight (13%) say they attend a spiritual service at the least once every week – well below the 20% recorded in 2018 before the outbreak of Covid and just like the 12% recorded throughout the pandemic in 2021.

Christians aged 18 to 34 are barely more likely than those aged 55 and over to say they attend a service at the least once a month. However the researchers say this was also the case before the pandemic and is subsequently “not necessarily evidence of a recent youth revival”.

The concept that congregations are getting younger can also be dismissed by the researchers, who say that is more prone to reflect “a lack of older worshippers moderately than an influx of younger ones” as weekly attendance amongst 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 amongst non-Christian religions has also dropped “suggesting Covid-19 could have had an enduring 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 Addressing the Bible Society’s now withdrawn ‘Quiet Revival’ report, NatCen says there may be “no evidence” that younger Christians are leading a spiritual revival. Bible Society withdrew its Quiet Revival report in March, blaming faulty data from YouGov which carried out polling on its behalf. 

“While it’s true that those aged under 35 who discover as Christian are somewhat more likely than older Christians to attend services monthly, BSA data show that this pattern has been the identical since well before the pandemic. It doesn’t represent a revival,” NatCen said.

“At the identical time, monthly attendance amongst Christians aged under 35 stands at 26%, well below the typical of 36% recorded within the three years before the pandemic.” 

In addition to this, only 1 / 4 of young people discover as Christian in comparison with over half (52%) of those aged 55 and over. 

Leading statistician Sir John Curtice said, “The evidence from the British Social Attitudes survey is obvious: there was no revival in Christian observance in Britain. 

“Church attendance stays below pre-pandemic levels across all age groups, and the suggestion that younger individuals are leading a spiritual renewal will not be borne out by the information.

“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 was a year-on-year increase for the reason that pandemic, numbers of worshippers remain below 2019 levels.