Municipalities - Number of people leaving the church partially declining in 2023
The number of people leaving the church in Lower Saxony is declining in some cases. In Hanover, for example, by mid-December there were over 1,000 fewer than in the previous year, according to the state capital. In other cities, such as Osnabrück, more people left the church.
Around 5300 people left the church in Hanover by December 15, 2023, of which around 3800 were Protestant and 1400 Catholic. A year earlier, 7000 had already left by mid-December. In the previous years as a whole, there were 6624 in 2021 and 5300 in 2020. The city did not give any reasons for the decline.
In Osnabrück, on the other hand, the number of people leaving the church has risen. By mid-December, there were already 2842, and in 2022 as a whole there were 2524. "We initially thought that the high number of cases in 2022 could still be a catch-up effect from the coronavirus period," said a city employee. However, as the number is still high, it is not possible to say "when the number of people wanting to leave will reach saturation point".
In Göttingen, too, the number of people leaving the church remained roughly the same. By December 15, 1253 people had left the church there, 842 of them Protestant and 386 Catholic. In 2022 as a whole, the figure was 1381. The last time church memberships fell there, as in some other cities, was during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
By mid-December, 883 people had left the church in Lüneburg, including 182 former Catholics and 701 former Protestants. Comparative figures were not available there. In Braunschweig, 2096 people left the Protestant and 759 the Catholic churches. In Oldenburg, 2229 people left the church.
Not all cities broke down the figures by denomination. Reasons why people leave the church are not recorded, it was said.
Göttingen statistics
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The decline in people leaving the church partialy is not just limited to Hanover, as cities like Osnabrück also saw an increase. Despite this, Göttingen's numbers remained relatively stable throughout the year. Interestingly, the turn of the year in 2023 saw fewer people leaving the church in Germany's historical city of Göttingen compared to the previous year. Leaving the church is not a phenomenon unique to a specific time or location, as it has been observed in various cities across Lower Saxony, including Hanover and Osnabrück.
Source: www.stern.de
