Last year, the Norwegian Church had over 3.8 million registered members, but the number of baptized children is constantly in decline, writes NRK. Figures from Statistics Norway show that only 62 percent of all newborns in 2013 were baptized. There is a decline of 19 percent since 2001.
In Oslo, the figures show that only 60 percent of parents with at least one of them is a member of the church chooses to baptize their child.
Talking to NRK, dean Trond Bakkeviks says many parents are reluctant to make choices on behalf of their children. He also explains the big decline in Oslo with diversity of religions and secularization.
– It is difficult to call ourself as a national church. We have a challenge to get people who are even members of the church. Maybe we have not worked well enough as a church, says the dean to NRK.
