section_path: Demographics/Religion
section_name: Religion
paragraph_text: Religion
  
  Bulgaria is a secular state with guaranteed freedom of religion by constitution, but Eastern Orthodox Christianity is designated as the traditional religion of the country. Approximately two-thirds of Bulgarians identify as Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was the first church apart from the Four Ancient Patriarchates of the Eastern Orthodox Church —in Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem —and the first national church to gain autocephalous status in 927 AD. The Bulgarian Patriarchate has 12 dioceses and over 2,000 priests.
  
  Muslims are the second-largest religious community and constitute approximately 10% of Bulgaria's population. A 2011 survey of 850 Muslims in Bulgaria found 30% professing to be “deeply religious” and 50% as just “religious”. According to the study, some religious teachings, like Islamic funeral, have been traditionally incorporated and are widely practiced while other major ones are less observed, such as the Muslim prayer or abstaining from drinking alcohol, eating pork, and cohabitation.
  
  Other important religions include Roman Catholicism and Judaism, whose history in Bulgaria dates back to the early Middle Ages, the Armenian Apostolic Church, as well as various Protestant denominations, all of which stand for around 2% of Bulgaria's population. An ever increasing number of Bulgarians are either irreligious or unaffiliated with any religion, a percentage that has been growing rapidly over the past 20 years, from 3.9% in 2001, through 9.3% in 2011 and all the way to 15.9% in 2021.
  
  According to the most recent census of 2021 the religious denominations of the population are as follows: Christian (71.5%), Muslim (10.8%), other religions (0.1%). A further 12.4% were unaffiliated or did not respond.