National / Regional Profiles
Included Nations/Regions: Kosovo [x], Southern Europe [x], The World [x]
Religion and State (RAS) Indexes1
Religion Indexes (Kosovo)
|
State Funding of Religion Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 68/253 |
Societal Discrimination of Minority Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 27/253 |
State Regulation of Majority or All Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 85/253 |
State Discrimination of Minority Religions Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3) Ranking: 105/253 |
Kosovo: Major World Religions (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2
The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Nonreligious.
Kosovo: Largest Religious Groups (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2
The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Agnostics, Atheists, doubly-affiliated, Independents, Protestants, unaffiliated Christians.
Religious Adherents (World Religion Database 2020)2
| Religion | Kosovo [x] |
Southern Europe [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baha'is | --- | 0.03% | 0.11% |
| Buddhists | --- | 0.11% | 6.83% |
| --Mahayanists | --- | 0.08% | 4.89% |
| --Theravadins | --- | 0.04% | 1.72% |
| --Lamaists | --- | --- | 0.23% |
| Chinese folk-religionists | --- | 0.18% | 5.98% |
| Christians | 6.16% | 80.60% | 32.16% |
| --unaffiliated Christians | 0.02% | 0.61% | 1.46% |
| --Orthodox | 2.47% | 13.58% | 3.75% |
| --Catholics | 2.96% | 65.70% | 15.90% |
| --Protestants | 0.61% | 0.60% | 7.51% |
| --Independents | 0.11% | 1.45% | 5.00% |
| Daoists | --- | --- | 0.11% |
| Confucianists | --- | --- | 0.11% |
| Ethnic religionists | --- | 0.00% | 3.65% |
| Hindus | --- | 0.13% | 13.58% |
| --Vaishnavites | --- | 0.03% | 5.15% |
| --Shaivites | --- | 0.06% | 4.86% |
| --Saktists | --- | 0.04% | 3.57% |
| Jains | --- | --- | 0.08% |
| Jews | --- | 0.06% | 0.19% |
| Muslims | 92.95% | 7.48% | 24.20% |
| --Sunnis | 92.95% | 7.20% | 21.56% |
| --Shias | --- | 0.27% | 2.44% |
| --Islamic schismatics | --- | 0.00% | 0.21% |
| New religionists | --- | 0.01% | 0.85% |
| Shintoists | --- | --- | 0.04% |
| Sikhs | --- | 0.04% | 0.34% |
| Spiritists | --- | 0.00% | 0.19% |
| Zoroastrians | --- | --- | 0.00% |
| Non-Religious | 0.90% | 11.35% | 11.57% |
| --Agnostics | 0.71% | 9.25% | 9.65% |
| --Atheists | 0.19% | 2.11% | 1.92% |
Religious demographics (Kosovo)3
The country has an area of 4,211 square miles and a population of two million, although the last credible census was taken in the 1980s. Islam is the predominant faith, professed by most of the majority ethnic Albanian population; the Bosniak, Gorani, and Turkish communities; and some members of the Roma/Ashkali/Egyptian community; however, religion is not a significant factor in public life. Religious rhetoric was largely absent from public discourse in Muslim communities, mosque attendance was low, and public displays of conservative Islamic dress and culture were minimal. The Serb population in the country, estimated at 100,000 to 120,000, is largely Serbian Orthodox. Groups that constitute less than 5 percent of the population include Roman Catholics and Protestants. Catholic communities are concentrated around Catholic churches in Prizren, Klina, and Gjakova. Protestants have small populations in most cities, with the largest concentration located in Pristina.
Summary Information |
Kosovo [x] |
Southern Europe [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Region | Southern Europe | The World | -- |
| Total Population4 | 2,176,336 | 154,682,755 | 7,335,774,068 |
| Area in square miles | 4,203 | 508,229 | 196,939,900 |
| Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 | 71.3 | 78.8 | 71.9 |
| Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 | 10,200.0 | 23,222.3 | 16,101.0 |
| Description of Polity Score6 | (democratic) | -- | -- |
| Judicial Independence Composite Score, as average of scores for higher and lower courts7 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.8 |
| Official Religion(s)8 | None | -- | -- |
Religion and the State
Religion and State Collection (2014) |
Kosovo [x] |
|---|---|
| Is proselytizing Legal?1 | Yes |
| Is religious registration someties denied?1 | There is no registration requirement |
| What are the consequences of registration?1 | There is no registration requirement |
| Official Support: The formal relationship between religion and state.1 | Cooperation |
| The extent to which religious education is mandatory in public schools.1 | None |
| The extent to which funding is exclusive to one or a few religions.1 | Government funding of religion goes to only some religions for which there are a substantial number of adherents in the country. |
| The extent to which there are religious requirements and oaths for holding office.1 | There are no religious requirements or oaths necessary in order to hold office. |
Constitutional Features [ View Excerpts]
Features of Constitution |
Kosovo [x] |
|---|---|
| Is there a constitution?9 | Yes |
| Does the constitution state an official religion?10 | no [ Article 8 ] |
| Does the constitution provide for freedom of religion?10 | yes [ Article 38 ] |
| Does the constitution protect religious equality/non-discrimination?10 | yes [ Article 24(2) ] |
Constitution |
Kosovo [x] |
|---|---|
| Constitution Year10 | 2008 |
| Last Amended10 | 2016 |
| Source10 | Constitute Project |
| Translation10 | Source is an English translation. |
| Current as of10 | July 27, 2018 |
Socio-Economic Measures
Education |
Kosovo [x] |
Southern Europe [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Literacy Rate, in percentage of adult population12 | -- | 98.5 | 86.2 |
| Net Primary School Enrollment Rate, in percentage of population of official school age5 | -- | -- | 89.6 |
| Net Secondary School Enrollment Rate, in percentage of population of official school age5 | -- | -- | 65.1 |
Economic Measures |
Kosovo [x] |
Southern Europe [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross Domestic Product, in billions of current U.S. Dollars5 | 6.6 | 3,693.6 | 75,845.1 |
| Imports, in million current-year U.S. dollars13 | 3,401.1 | 1,115,269.0 | 20,150,355.0 |
| Exports, in million current-year U.S. dollars13 | 1,494.7 | 1,213,779.9 | 20,790,015.7 |
| Economic Freedom Index, scaled from 0 min to 100 max14 | 67.9 | 63.6 | 62.9 |
| Human Development Index15 | -- | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| 2013 Gender Inequality Index (GII)16 | -- | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 | 10,200.0 | 23,222.3 | 16,101.0 |
Military Measures |
Kosovo [x] |
Southern Europe [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composite Index of National Capability, in fraction of 117 | 0.0000855 | 0.001892785 | 0.005162584 |
| 2012 Military expenditure (% of GDP)5 | -- | 1.5 | -- |
Demographic and Health Measures |
Kosovo [x] |
Southern Europe [x] |
The World [x] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Population4 | 2,176,336 | 154,682,755 | 7,335,774,068 |
| Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 | 71.3 | 78.8 | 71.9 |
| 2012 Net Migration Rate (migrants per 1,000 population)5 | -- | 1,494.0 | -- |
| Urban Percentage of Total Population13 | -- | 70.4 | 54.3 |
| Urban Population Growth, by percentage13 | -- | 0.1 | 2.0 |
| Fertility Rate, in total births per woman13 | 2.1 | 1.4 | 2.5 |
| Infant Mortality Rate, in deaths per 1000 live births13 | -- | 3.4 | 30.5 |
| HIV Prevalence, in percentage of population ages 15-49 with HIV13 | -- | -- | 0.8 |
Other Measures on Religion, State, and Society
Constitution Clauses Related to Religion
Constitution Excerpts (clauses that reference religion) (Kosovo)10
Article 8. Secular state.
The Republic of Kosovo is a secular state and is neutral in matters of religious beliefs.
Article 9. Cultural and religious heritage.
The Republic of Kosovo ensures the preservation and protection of its cultural and religious heritage.
Article 24. Equality before the law.
...
(2) No one shall be discriminated against on grounds of ... religion ...
...
Article 38. Freedom of belief, conscience, and religion.
(1) Freedom of belief, conscience and religion is guaranteed.
(2) Freedom of belief, conscience and religion includes the right to accept and manifest religion, the right to express personal beliefs and the right to accept or refuse membership in a religious community or group.
(3) No one shall be required to practice or be prevented from practicing religion nor shall anyone be required to make his/her opinions and beliefs public.
(4) Freedom of manifesting religion, beliefs and conscience may be limited by law if it is necessary to protect public safety and order or the health or rights of other persons.
Article 39. Religious denominations.
(1) The Republic of Kosovo ensures and protects religious autonomy and religious monuments within its territory.
(2) Religious denominations are free to independently regulate their internal organization, religious activities and religious ceremonies.
(3) Religious denominations have the right to establish religious schools and charity institutions in accordance with this Constitution and the law.
Article 40. Freedom of expression.
...
(2) The freedom of expression can be limited by law in cases when it is necessary to prevent encouragement or provocation of violence and hostility on grounds of ... religion.
Article 42. Freedom of the media.
...
(2) ... No one shall prevent the dissemination of information or ideas through media, except if it is necessary to prevent encouragement or provocation of violence and hostility on grounds of ... religion.
...
Article 44. Freedom of association.
...
(3) Organizations or activities that ... encourage ... religious hatred may be prohibited by a decision of a competent court.
Article 57. General principles [on rights of communities].
(1) Inhabitants belonging to the same ... religious group traditionally present on the territory of the Republic of Kosovo (Communities) shall have specific rights as set forth in this Constitution in addition to the human rights and fundamental freedoms provided in chapter II of this Constitution.
...
Article 58. Responsibilities of the state.
...
(3) The Republic of Kosovo shall take all necessary measures to protect persons who may be subject to threats or acts of discrimination, hostility or violence as a result of their ... religious identity.
...
(5) The Republic of Kosovo shall promote the preservation of the cultural and religious heritage of all communities as an integral part of the heritage of Kosovo. The Republic of Kosovo shall have a special duty to ensure an effective protection of the entirety of sites and monuments of cultural and religious significance to the communities.
...
Article 59. Rights of communities and their members.
Members of communities shall have the right, individually or in community, to:
(1) express, maintain and develop their culture and preserve the essential elements of their identity, namely their religion ...
...
(12) enjoy unhindered contacts among themselves within the Republic of Kosovo and establish and maintain free and peaceful contacts with persons in any State, in particular those with whom they share ... religious identity ..., in accordance with the law and international standards.
...
Article 81. Legislation of vital interest.
(1) The following laws shall require for their adoption, amendment or abrogation both the majority of the Assembly deputies and the majority of the Assembly deputies who hold seats guaranteed for representatives of Communities that are not in the majority:
...
(6) Laws on religious freedom or on agreements with religious communities;
...
Variable Details
Sources
1 The Religion and State (RAS) Project is a university-based project located at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel and is directed by Jonathan Fox. Round 3 of the RAS includes all countries with populations of 250,000 or more as well as a sampling of smaller states and offers annual measures from 1990 to 2014. The methods used for conducting the RAS3 collection and the complete codebook can be reviewed online. Or, the codebook and data file can be downloaded free of charge here. For details on how the RAS indexes reported on the ARDA’s National Profiles were coded, constructed, and placed into categories, click here.2 Todd M. Johnson and Brian J. Grim, eds. World Religion Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2022).
3 The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.
4 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Demographics reports the estimates of religious demographics, both country by country and region by region. The RCS was created to fulfill the unmet need for a dataset on the religious dimensions of countries of the world, with the state-year as the unit of observation. It estimates populations and percentages of adherents of 100 religious denominations including second level subdivision within Christianity and Islam. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database.
5 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.
6 The Center for Systemic Peace (CSP) is engaged in innovative research on the problem of political violence within the structural context of the dynamic global system. The Center supports scientific research and quantitative analysis in many issue areas related to the fundamental problems of violence in both human relations and societal-systemic development processes. The Center continually monitors political behavior in each of the world's major states and reports on emerging issues and persisting conditions related to the problems of political violence and "state failure." A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission. *Note: Polity Scores range from -10 to 10 and include the following categories: -10 to -9: strongly autocratic, -8 to -7 autocratic, -6 to -4 weakly autocratic, -3 to +3 anocratic, +4 to +6 weakly democratic, +7 to +8 democratic, +9 to +10 strongly democratic.
7 Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. V-Dem provides a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between seven high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian, majoritarian, and consensual, and collects data to measure these principles. A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission.
8 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Government Religious Preference (GRP) measures government-level favoritism toward, and disfavor against, 30 religious denominations. A series of ordered categorical variables index the state's institutional favoritism in 28 different ways. The variables are combined to form five composite indices for five broad components of state-religion: official status, religious education, financial support, regulatory burdens, and freedom of practice. The five components' composites in turn are further combined into a single composite score, the GRP score. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson, the principal investigator of the World Christian Database, the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database, and co-author of the World Christian Encyclopedia series.
9 Data under the "Features of Constitution" heading are drawn from coding of the U.S. State Department's 2008 International Religious Freedom Reports conducted by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the International Religious Freedom reports. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
10 Text from country constitutions was copied from primary documents obtained online using a variety of sources, including the Constitute Project, World Constitutions Illustrated, and government sources. When the text was in a language other than English, it was translated to English by ARDA staff or with web-based translation utilities such as Google Translate. Emphases were added to the text by ARDA staff to differentiate religious content from non-religious content. Text is current to the date listed in the "Current as of" field shown above. Please contact us at
11 Freedom House is an independent non-governmental organization that offers measures of the extent to which governments are accountable to their own people; the rule of law prevails; and freedoms of expression, association, belief and respect for the rights of minorities and women are guaranteed. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
12 The CIA's World Factbook was created as an annual summary and update to the now defunct National Intelligence Survey (NIS) studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The year 2010 marks the 67th year of the World Factbook and its predecessor programs. The maps and flags are also from the World Factbook, which is an open source.
13 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.
14 The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom is a systematic, empirical measurement of economic freedom in countries throughout the world. A set of objective economic criteria are used to study and grade various countries for the annual publication of the Index of Economic Freedom. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
15 The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
16 The 2013 Gender Inequality Index is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market. It varies between zero (when women and men fare equally) and one (when men or women fare poorly compared to the other in all dimensions). The health dimension is measured by two indicators: maternal mortality ratio and the adolescent fertility rate. The empowerment dimension is also measured by two indicators: the share of parliamentary seats held by each sex and by secondary and higher education attainment levels. The labor dimension is measured by women’s participation in the work force. Source: The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.
17 Military data is drawn from the National Material Capabilities (v4.0) dataset, which is a component of and hosted by the Correlates of War Project. The Correlates of War Project seeks to facilitate the collection, dissemination, and use of accurate and reliable quantitative data in international relations. Correlates of War data may be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.
18 The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom reports. The 2003, 2005, and 2008 reports were coded by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The GRI, GFI and SRI values reported on the National Profiles are averages from the 2003, 2005, and 2008 International Religious Freedom reports, while the Religious Persecution measure is an average from the 2005 and 2008 reports. All other measures derived from the International Religious Freedom reports were coded from the reports 2008. A data file with all of the 2008 coding, as well as data files with other cross national collections are available for preview and download from the data archive on this site. Used with permission.
19 The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset contains standards-based quantitative information on government respect for 15 internationally recognized human rights for 202 countries, annually from 1981-2011. It is designed for use by scholars and students who seek to test theories about the causes and consequences of human rights violations, as well as policy makers and analysts who seek to estimate the human rights effects of a wide variety of institutional changes and public policies including democratization, economic aid, military aid, structural adjustment, and humanitarian intervention. The full CIRI Human Rights Dataset can be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.
