An analysis of the socioeconomic characteristics determining religious choice

Abstract

This paper analyses the relationship between religious choice and the socioeconomic characteristics of citizens. The data were obtained from an ad-hoc survey involving 2708 people, a representative sample of the population in the Andalusian region of Spain. The existing literature indicates that some socioeconomic determinants have an influence on social and religious contexts; therefore, by conducting the research in a different context, this study is an extension to the existing bibliography. The correlations, both simple and multiple, between age, gender, level of studies and income, and the choice of religion were analysed. The results show that income and educational level have a significant effect on religious choice; however, despite both being interrelated, it is a higher level of income that causes people to move away from Catholicism and towards atheism, whereas higher educational attainment results in more individuals defining themselves as agnostics and a few as non-practising Catholics.