France: 70% observe Ramadan fast

France: 70% observe Ramadan fast


70% of the Muslims in France observe the fast of Ramadan, a stable number from a report in 2001, but a significant increase since 1989 (60%), according to an Ifop poll on Islam in France in 2009 published Thursday.

At the same time, the number of people who say they don't fast dropped from 32% in 1989 to 20% in 2007. The rest of the people said they fasted some days or had no opinion.

Friday mosque attendance remains a very male practice, with 34% of men and only 12% of women. Attendance varies with age, with 20% of 18-20 year olds compared with 41% of those over 55.

The average attendance of Muslim men and women is 23% compared to only 5% of Catholics who attend Church at least once a month.

The amount of those who pray daily went up from 31% in 1994 to 39% in 2007, among youth 18-24 less pray daily than among people over 55 (28% vs. 64%).

The data was collected by Ifop in the period 2005-2009. The data was collected from 135 surveys each with a nationally representative sample of 950. In total the combined sample consists of 131,141 interviews.

Source: Le Figaro (French)

No comments: