Funeral services or similar religious rites connected with death turned out to be more important in all the other Nordic countries than in Finland, where baptism and marriage services are seen to be just as important. A church wedding or equivalent religious rite connected with marriage was also somewhat more important to the Finns than to the others. In all the Nordic countries, the older age groups place a higher value on church ceremonies than the younger generations. In Finland, the difference between old age pensioners and those under thirty is particularly striking. In all four countries women pray more frequently than men.
Finnish men pray as frequently as women in the other Nordic countries.
Three quarters of the population in the Nordic countries state that they believe in God. Although the percentage of those believing in God is reasonably high in the Nordic countries, it is nevertheless exceeded in most other parts of the world. In all the Nordic countries except Sweden, the majority of people believe that the Bible is based on divine inspiration. One fifth of all Finns regard the Bible as being the literal word of God. Although the vast majority of the population in all the Nordic countries remain members of the church, the overall degree of commitment to the church is very low.