Filenews 28 December 2024
We may be a state in which the vast majority are Orthodox Christians, but of the 923,381 people residing on the island, there are also 235,306 inhabitants (one in four) who belong to ten different churches or religions, including atheists.
It is worth noting that the 235,306 non-Orthodox Christians include 159,835 who did not declare to which religion they belong.
Orthodox Christians (Cypriots and foreigners) number 688,075 of whom 336,627 men and 351,448 women.
It is also worth noting that apart from the Greek language, residents of Cyprus speak 20 other languages.
More specifically, of the 719,252 Cypriots (those who declared Cypriot as a second citizenship were also counted, raising the number of "authentic" Cypriots by a few thousand), Orthodox Christians amount to 604,165 and of them 296,674 are men and 307,491 women. A total of 98,645 Cypriots did not declare their religion or have their religious beliefs not registered. Of these, 49,505 are men and 49,140 are women.
Of the 93,540 nationals of the other EU countries (except Cyprus), 59,548 Orthodox Christians are Greek, of whom 29,800 were men and 29,748 women. A total of 26,950 of them did not profess religion. Of the 26,950 who did not declare religion, 13,430 men and 13,520 women.
Of the 107,168 non-EU nationals, Orthodox Christian men are 24,021 and women 9,983. Of the 107,168 third-country nationals, 31,376 did not declare their religion. Of these, 13,530 are men and 17,846 are women.
A total of another 3,421 people did not declare which religion they belong to.
The numbers do not derive from anyone's estimates but from the latest census of the Statistical Service.
According to the Statistical Office, the Armenian Church has 2,025 citizens, the Maronite 4,486, the Roman Catholics 13,860, the Muslims 19,534, the Anglicans/Protestants are 9,621, the Buddhists are 7,868, the Sikhs 2,260, the Hindus 1,681, the other religions belong 4,545, the atheists amount to 9,591 while 159,835 did not declare to which church they belong or have not been registered.
Of the 93,540 EU nationals, 59,548 are Orthodox Christians, 88 belong to the Armenian Church, 37 to the Maronite Church, 3,459 are Roman Catholics, 488 are Mohammedans, 489 Protestants/Anglicans, 181 are Buddhists, ten are Sikhs, 18 are Hindus, 798 belong to other religions, 1,115 are atheists, while it has not been recorded what another 49,140 EU citizens stand for.
As for nationals of non-EU countries, they amount to 107,168 of whom 24,021 are Orthodox Christians, 243 belong to the Armenian Church, 279 to the Maronite Church, 8,279 are Roman Catholics, 15,723 are Muslims, 8,314 are Anglicans/Protestants, 7,579 are Buddhists, 2,223 are Sikhs, 1,628 are Hindus, 2,580 belong to other religions, There are 2,526 atheists, while another 13,530 were not recorded or declared religion. Of these foreigners, a total of 3,421 did not declare religion.
