Religiosity in Lisbon Metropolitan Area by age group and comparing with Portugal

In the last decade two projects studied religiosity in Portugal and in its capital region, Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA). Based on these quantitative projects, this article aims to understand the impact of individualisation, socialisation, and urbanisation on Portuguese religiosity in two ways. First, it analyses the dimensions of religiosity (belonging, practice, and belief) in LMA by age group. Second, it compares religiosity in LMA with religiosity in Portugal overall. The first analysis shows that, although the dimension of belief is more complex, religiosity generally increases with age. This aligns with the development of individualisation and cohort replacement. The second analysis shows that Portugal has higher religiosity than LMA, which may reflect different levels of urbanisation, even though aspects such as religious plurality should be taken into account.