The meaning of religion for residents of Kazakhstan is changing: there are more people with religious views. This is evidenced by the World Values Survey programme, which was used for two surveys in Kazakhstan – in 2011 and 2018.
Religion becomes more important
Responding to the question of how important religion is in one’s life, only 21.5 per cent of respondents (the sample of 1,500 respondents) said ‘very important’ in 2011, and in 2018 there were 28.7 per cent (the sample of 1,276 respondents) who said so.
The answer “rather important” was mentioned by 33.5 per cent (2011) and 35.5 per cent (2018). The number of respondents who thought that religion was not very important decreased from 33.6 per cent (2011) to 24.3 per cent (2018), and not important at all – from 11.4 per cent to 8.9 per cent, respectively.
The answer to the same question broken down by age shows that the middle group (30 to 49 years) has faced the maximum increase in religiousness (‘very important’). The groups aged ‘under 29 years’ and ’30 to 49 years’ have faced the increase in the number of respondents who find ‘religion’ as ‘rather important’. The number of moderate adherents in the age group ’50 years and older has decreased.
Answers to other survey questions demonstrate a growing trend towards religiousness, for example:- about the frequency of participation in religious ceremonies, apart from weddings and funerals (37 per cent answered ‘almost never’ in 2011, only 11.1 per cent answered the same in 2018);
- about the fairness of the statement ‘the only acceptable religion is mine’ (10.1 per cent absolutely agreed with the statement in 2011, 18.2 per cent in 2018).
The question about traits to be instilled in children at home can be an important marker. Only 10 per cent of respondents mentioned religious faith in 2011, and 15.1 per cent in 2018. This indicator was below average (9.4 per cent) in the youngest age group in 2011, and above average (17.2 per cent) in 2018.
Another important indicator is participation of Kazakhstanis in religious organisations. The number of persons not identifying themselves as members of religious organisations decreased from 91.5 per cent (2011) to 86.8 per cent (2018). However, the number of active members of religious organisations decreased, too, from 2.8 per cent to 1.6 per cent. The number of inactive members increased, respectively, from 5.7 per cent to 6.3 per cent.
In terms of age, the number of inactive members increased due to the youngest age group, while the number of active members decreased in all age groups.
Number of Muslims increased
The number of religious people increases in Kazakhstan generally due to the Islam. 50.3 per cent of respondents identified themselves as Muslims in 2011, 67.6 per cent in 2018. In the meantime, the number of orthodox Christians decreased from 26.7 per cent to 18.6 per cent, which reflects the demographic processes occurring in the country.
The number of those who identify themselves as having no religion decreased significantly, from 21 per cent to 8.3 per cent.Kazakhstanis often identified themselves as Muslims in the youngest age group (57.9 per cent) in 2011, and the middle age group (71.2 per cent) in 2018. However, the highest rate of Islamisation was in the oldest age group: the number of Muslims there increased from 35.4 per cent to 63.4 per cent. However, it needs to be explained that demographic and migration processes affect the statistics.
Why religiousness has increased?
Religious scholar, project coordinator of IWPR Ayan Oryntai emphasised that when scientists, sociologists, religious scholars speak about the increase of religiousness in Kazakhstan, they mean mostly Islamisation.
“In fact, an active process of revival of interest in Islam is going on now and it is a natural process,” Oryntai said. “We are raising a generation that does not know the Soviet ideology and in search for self-identification they turn to the closest ideology, i.e. Islam.”
According to Gulmira Ileuova, sociologist, president of public foundation “CSPI ‘Strategia’” [Centre of Social and Political Studies ‘Strategy’], three groups of factors have affected the growing popularity of Islam in Kazakhstan: socioeconomic (e.g., search for justice in religion amid social stratification); cultural and ethnic (growth of national identity, return to the traditions of the ancestors); domestic and foreign political (authorities believed that religion can strengthen their political influence, so they did not hinder external Islamisation).
“The wrong expectation by the elites and the people’s demand contributed to the increased religiosity of the society,” the sociologist said. “Now we are facing some slowdown. According to our 2023 research, the number of people telling about their religious views in youth groups declines. In terms of Islam, the number is still high, nearly 70 per cent, it does not increase though. However, the inertia of Islam in Kazakhstan is still big.”
According to Ayan Oryntai, the Islamisation trend will go on in the foreseeable future. He suggested looking at Türkiye, which has gone through similar processes.
“The question is how to take this phenomenon,” Oryntai said. “And this question should be addressed to governmental institutions. They can either ban and fight it, or accept it and make it a part of the public space because the popularity of Islam will never wane.”
According to observations of CSPI ‘Strategia’, there is a group of so-called ‘symbolical Muslims’.
“They are not so much religious as particular about external manifestations of Islam. This group is rather numerous and it aggressively declares its extreme views and dictates its terms to the society/state, e.g., wearing a hijab. The number of such people is 10 to 24 per cent, and it poses a risk of confrontation in the society. I believe the state must stop such intervention at early stages,” said Gulmira Ileuova.
According to Ayan Oryntai, Islamisation in Kazakhstan takes its extreme form only in some cases, but generally is rather mild.
“The prevailing group in Kazakhstan is still the so-called ethnic Muslims, or ‘nominal Muslims’, i.e. those who do not follow the rules of Islam, rarely go to mosque, do not pray salah, yet identify themselves as belonging to Islam. It is demonstrated on the cultural map by Ronald Inglehart, which shows Kazakhstan not as a traditional society, but not a postmodern one yet,” Ayan Oryntai said.
Cultural map by Ronald Inglehart. Vertical axis: Traditional vs secular values. Horizontal axis: Survival vs self-expressionMain illustration: brgfx on Freepik