Religious identity

In March 2018, ACT Kazakhstan conducted a survey aimed to determine the place of religion in the life of Kazakhstanis. A bit more than half of the respondents (51%) answered the religion did not play an important part in their life. It is worth noting that most of those respondents were aged 18 to 27; that is, they represented the younger generation.

The survey revealed the following attitudes of the interviewed Almaty residents towards religiosity:

• 35% consider themselves as believers
• 25% believe in God and try to observe the rituals of their religion;
• 19% admit the existence of higher powers;
• 10% are indifferent to religion;
• 5% are dedicated atheists.

ACT Kazakhstan has also clarified the attitude of the respondents to the manifestation of religious identity:

• 74% welcome the observance of Oryza, 3% have a rather negative or negative attitude to the observance of religious fasting;
• 19% are positive about wearing hijab/niqab by women, 53% have a negative or rather negative attitude to such a manifestation of religiosity;
• 17% of the respondents are positive about wearing a beard by men, 47% are rather negative or negative;
• Shortening men's clothing (trousers) causes a positive reaction in 7% of respondents, while 56% react rather negatively or negatively on such a manifestation of religiosity.
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The survey was conducted in March 2018 among the population of the city of Almaty on a sample representing the city population. The survey was conducted in the form of a personal interview. The sample size was 404 respondents. The sampling error does not exceed 4.9%, CI = 95%.The use of survey materials is permitted with the obligatory mention of the author of the survey.