Religiosity, attitudes toward science, and public health: evidence from Finland

Laliotis, Ioannis, Mourelatos, Evangelos and Lohtander, Joona (2025) Religiosity, attitudes toward science, and public health: evidence from Finland. Economics and Human Biology, 56. ISSN 1570-677X

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Abstract

We explore how religiosity influences perceptions and the adoption of protective health behaviours, as reflected in COVID-19 infection and vaccination rates. In the first part of our analysis, we use Finnish data from four nationally representative surveys, we find that individuals with higher self-reported religiosity and those from more conservative religious groups tend to hold less favourable attitudes towards science, technology and medicine, compared to non-religious individuals. In the second part, we observe that municipalities with higher shares of conservative religious groups experienced greater COVID-19 spread and lower vaccination rates, with these trends persisting throughout the pandemic. Our findings underscore the importance of accounting for religiosity when crafting public health policies, as it may contribute to the existence of non-compliance hotspots.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Authors
Divisions:	Hellenic Observatory
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
JEL classification:	H - Public Economics > H1 - Structure and Scope of Government > H10 - General I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I10 - General Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology > Z10 - General
Date Deposited:	07 Jan 2025 14:09
Last Modified:	16 Jan 2025 11:09
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/126615

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