Generation Z adults are more likely than older Americans to identify as “religious,” while also reporting high levels of participation in a wide range of spiritual practices, according to a new Harris Poll.
The survey, released Thursday, was based on responses from 2,136 U.S. adults collected July 1-4. Respondents were grouped as Gen Z, ages 18 to 29; millennials, 30 to 45; Gen X, 46 to 61; and baby boomers, 62 and older.
Gen Z was the generation most likely to describe itself as “religious,” at 33%, compared with 22% of Gen X adults, 19% of millennials and 18% of boomers. Gen Z was also least likely to identify as “neither religious nor spiritual,” at 19%, followed by millennials at 20%, Gen X at 21% and boomers at 23%.
Regular Scripture or religious-text reading was reported by 54% of Gen Z adults and 53% of millennials, compared with 48% of Gen X adults and 43% of boomers.
Nearly half of Gen Z adults, 49%, said they regularly attended religious services during the past year, higher than millennials at 44%, Gen X at 43% and boomers at 42%.
Boomers, however, were the most likely to pray regularly on their own. Seventy-five percent reported doing so, compared with 72% of Gen X adults, 67% of Gen Z adults and 65% of millennials.
The survey found that 88% of Gen Z adults regularly engaged in at least one spiritual activity, including prayer, Scripture reading, religious services, meditation or ritual, manifestation, astrology or tarot, or energy work. The figure was 84% among both millennials and Gen X adults and 82% among boomers.
Fifty-seven percent of Gen Z adults agreed with the statement, “I’ve turned to manifestation practices or spirituality to feel I have greater control over my future.” Millennials were slightly higher at 59%, compared with 46% of Gen X adults and 30% of boomers.
“The generation expected to be the most secular is now the most likely to identify as religious,” researchers noted.
Gen Z and millennials also reported stronger interest in in-person community. Sixty percent of Gen Z adults said, “I belong to more real-world, in-person communities than I used to (e.g. run clubs, faith communities, hobby or volunteer groups),” compared with 59% of millennials, 42% of Gen X adults and 32% of boomers.
Seventy percent of both Gen Z adults and millennials agreed that they “want to belong to more real-world, in-person communities (e.g. run clubs, faith communities, hobby or volunteer groups),” compared with 62% of Gen X adults and 48% of boomers.
