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A new survey has suggested that 18 to 34 year olds are more likely to be grateful to God and have transcendental experiences.
“Grateful Britain?” was commissioned by the Policy Institute of King’s College London and conducted by Opinium, who spoke to 2,050 adults in Britain in October.
Just over a quarter (27 per cent) of those surveyed reported feeling “profound awe or wonder at the universe or nature” at least once a week. However this rose to 38 per cent among those who professed a religion and to 36 per cent among those aged 18 to 34. Just over in one in 10 (12 per cent) of respondents said they never had such feelings.
When asked if they felt “connected to all people or living things” on a weekly basis, 22 per cent said yes, while 24 per cent said they never felt that way.
Most respondents (54 per cent) have experienced at least once feeling “personally guided or watched over by something or someone”. Just under a third (32 per cent) said they had never had such an experience, rising to 47 per cent among those without a religion.
When asked if they believed there is a “guiding purpose in life, including their own life”, 53 per cent said there was, compared to 31 per cent who answered no.
On the question of being thankful for the joys of existence, 22 per cent said that every week they would feel “suddenly and deeply thankful to be alive”. Among 18 to 34 year olds, the figure was 36 per cent.
When asked who or what they were thankful for, 34 per cent said nature, followed by other people and their own inner selves which both received 31 per cent. God came in at 28 per cent. Again, 18 to 34 year olds were more likely to thank God, at 42 per cent.
The report’s authors were cautious about claims of a “quiet revival” taking place in British Christianity, particularly among young adults. The authors acknowledge a YouGov tracker that suggested the proportion of 18 to 24 year olds who believe in God nearly doubled from 19 per cent in 2022 to 37 per cent in 2025. They also cited a 2024 British Social Attitudes survey that said 60 per cent of 18 to 34 year olds have no religion, more than any other age group.
However, they say, “We get quite different indications of belief in larger, more expensive studies using random probability methods, rather than the opt-in panels typically used in polling.”
“This does not mean there are no shifts happening among the young. Part of the effect may be due to the changing composition of young people, particularly the increased ethnic and religious diversity among younger generations …
“While the reasons online samples may over-represent religious belief among young people are understandable (that it is an unusual population of young people who will want to join online panels), it is less clear why this has changed so markedly in such a short period of time: as recently as 2022, the YouGov tracker of belief in God showed nothing unusual in young people’s beliefs.”
Despite the sceptical tone of the report’s authors, anecdotal evidence suggests there is indeed some form of revival going on in the country.
Speaking to Church Times, Dr Michael Volland, the Bishop of Birmingham, said, “We are hearing from churches across the region and more widely that there are signs of a new openness to faith including — or even especially — from the younger generation.”
He added, “In my own diocese we are seeing young people arrive at churches with a desire to join in and find out more. They are hungry for faith, for meaning, for hope and to belong to a community that practises the radical, life-giving teaching of Jesus.”
A spokesman for the Bible Society, welcomed the findings saying that that it “seems vanishingly improbable that a rise in religious practice and belief in God could be accounted for simply by religious young people being more likely to join survey panels since 2022”.
