Lyssna

Andreas Sandberg, Researcher

Andreas Sandberg’s research focuses on church membership and how the Church of Sweden’s membership changes over time, from socio-economic and demographic perspectives.

About me, Andreas

As a human geographer, I am particularly interested in how socio-economic and demographic factors affect membership, church customs and participation in the Church of Sweden’s activities, but also in how the Church of Sweden, through its parishes, responds to changes in its environment. In my current project, I am investigating what happens in parishes with rapid population growth and extensive development of new neighbourhoods. Alongside this research project, my other activities include editing the annual publication Nyckeln till Svenska kyrkan (The Key to the Church of Sweden).

Andreas Sandberg

Unit of Research and Analysis at the Church of Sweden

Researcher

Tel. (Direct): (Int. + 46) (0)18-16 96 02

E-mail: andreas.sandberg@svenskakyrkan.se

My current research

Church membership in a process of change

The project aims to investigate how socio-economic and demographic factors affect membership and participation in the Church of Sweden’s activities, as well as how the Church of Sweden is managing to deal with a changing environment. The project is in three parts: patterns of entry and exit, changes in baptismal traditions and how membership is affected by people moving to a different part of the country. The project is based on church statistics and data records, including data on membership of the Church of Sweden plus demographic and socio-economic data. Analyses are supplemented by interview- and survey-based studies to shed light on the changes.

Selection of my publications

Jonsson, Pernilla; Svensson, Patrik; & Sandberg, Andreas (2020): “Who is Baptized? A Study of Socioeconomic, Regional and Gender Differences in Child Baptism in the Church of Sweden, 2005 and 2015”, Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, Volume 33, No. 2 2020, pp. 72–86.   

Hellqvist, Kristina & Andreas Sandberg, 2017. A time of encounters: the work with asylum seekers and new arrivals in the parishes of the Church of Sweden 2015-2016, Svenska Kyrkan, Uppsala, 2017.