The Dynamics, Structure and Spatial Distribution of the Religious Choices of the Romanian Ethnic Community in the Post-Socialist Period (1992-2011)

Abstract

The fall of the socialist system in Romania in December 1989 and the establishment of a democratic political system was a process with major effects on the ethnic components a ș well as denominational ones. The homogeneity or heterogeneity of the ethno-confessional models on the Romanian territory are the result of some historical events that determined, depending on the political administration, voluntary or forced combinations between ethnic groups and denominations. On a background of Romanian majority (89.5%), religious proselytism changed in certain historical periods the confessional structure of the main ethnic groups. In this study, the Romanian community is analyzed, based on data from post-socialist censuses (1992, 2002 and 2011), in terms of spatial distribution, dynamics and ethno-confessional structure. Correlated with the demographic trend at Romanian country level, the Romanians experienced differentiated evolutions at the level of confessional communities with implications on the spatial distribution and in the proportions of these communities in the group confessional structure and in Romania.