59% of French people believe in the veracity of at least one form of occultism, such as spiritualism or astrology, according to an Ifop poll.
This is a worrying finding, but no longer surprising. More and more French people believe in the paranormal, according to a poll* by Ifop, commissioned by the American tourist site AMB-USA. 59% of them believe in one or more forms of the occult, including ghosts, spiritualism and witches.
The existence of ghosts is thus validated by 24% of French respondents: this is 11 points more than in the 2000s, and 19 points more than in 1982. That of demons and jinns (supernatural creatures in Islam) is shared by 21% of people questioned, and that of transmission of thought by 40% (against 37% in 1998). Regarding religious beliefs, 43% of French believe miracles to be true, 28% reincarnation and 24% the devil. Finally, astrology is reliable for 32% of respondents, and UFOs exist according to 28% of respondents – the only belief in decline, since the rate was 33% in 1982.
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One in two Americans believe in the devil
The survey was also conducted among Americans. Across the Atlantic, this type of belief is even more shared: 46% claim that ghosts are a reality, 43% demons, 34% witches, 71% miracles, 54% the devil, 31% reincarnation, 43% UFOs and 42% astrology. The only paranormal phenomenon to which the French subscribe more than the Americans is the transmission of thought. In total, 69% of Americans believe in at least one occult belief.
These statistics may increase further in the future. According to a previous Ifop poll, carried out in early 2023, one in six young French people thinks the Earth is flat, and one in four doubts the theory of evolution. Only 33% of people aged between 11 and 24 believe today that “science brings man more good than harm“. They were 55% in 1972.
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*Survey carried out by the IFOP for AMB-USA by self-administered questionnaire from January 18 to 20, 2023 among 1,113 people representative of the American population aged 18 and over, and from January 26 to 27, 2023 among 1,018 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over.