A statistical look at the irreligious populations of the world
After hearing Pope Francis say that atheists can get into heaven last week, I was curious to see just how much the irreligious population has grown around the world.
Irreligion can mean the absence of religion, an indifference towards religion, a rejection of religion or outright hostility towards religion. Because of its broad definition it includes several groups such as atheism, agnosticism and antitheism.
The percentage of the population who have lost their religion has increased significantly over the last few decades, particularly in the developed world. The number of people walking the earth who no longer follow a particular religion has reached 1.1 billion or 16% of the world.
In Canada for example, the number of people who consider themselves atheists or agnostic rose by 8% in the last ten years. Meanwhile in Finland, the number has doubled in the last twenty.
The numbers are highest in Northern Europe and in East Asia. If you took the median average estimate, Japan would be the country with the most atheists and agnostics, a title mostly associated with Scandinavian countries.
However, Sweden leads the way when it comes to those who don’t practice religion with Norway not far behind. China is rather special here because a very small percentage considers themselves atheists, but 93% don’t subscribe to a specific religion.
In the list below, there are three questions that were asked at different times; the first column is a poll where respondents answered “no” to the question of whether religion played a role in their daily life. The second column is the percentage of those who claimed they had no religion; which doesn’t mean they don’t believe in a supreme being. The third column represents those who identify themselves as atheist or agnostic.
| Country | 2006–2011 | 2006 | 2005-2007 | |
1 | Sweden | 88% | 25% | 46–85% |
2 | Denmark | 83% | 10% | 43–80% |
3 | China | 82% | 93% | 8–14% |
4 | Estonia | 78% | 76% | 49% |
5 | Norway | 78% | 31–72% | |
6 | United Kingdom | 76% | 31–52% | |
7 | France | 74% | 43% | 43–64% |
8 | Hong Kong | 74% | 57% | |
9 | Czech Republic | 72% | 64% | 54–61% |
10 | Japan | 71% | 52% | 64–88% |
11 | Finland | 69% | 12% | 28–60% |
12 | Belgium | 68% | 35% | 42–43% |
13 | Australia | 67% | 24–25% | |
14 | New Zealand | 67% | 20–22% | |
15 | Netherlands | 65% | 55% | 39–55% |
16 | Cuba | 64% | 7% | |
17 | Luxembourg | 64% | 30% | |
18 | Uruguay | 64% | 12% | |
19 | Hungary | 63% | 43% | 32–46% |
20 | Germany | 62% | 25% | 25–55% |
21 | Canada | 61% | 26% | 19–30% |
22 | Iceland | 60% | 4% | 16–23% |
23 | Russia | 59% | 48% | 13–48% |
24 | Bulgaria | 58% | 30% | 34–40% |
25 | Latvia | 58% | 41% | 20–29% |
26 | Switzerland | 57% | 17–27% | |
27 | Spain | 55% | 16% | 15–24% |
28 | Azerbaijan | 54% | ||
29 | Israel | 54% | 15–37% | |
30 | Albania | 53% | 8% | |
31 | Ireland | 53% | 7% | |
32 | Singapore | 53% | 13% | |
33 | Lithuania | 52% | 19% | 13% |
34 | South Korea | 52% | 37% | 30–52% |
35 | Austria | 51% | 12% | 18–26% |
36 | Slovenia | 51% | 30% | 35–38% |
37 | Belarus | 50% | 48% | 17% |
38 | Mongolia | 50% | 9% | |
39 | Ukraine | 46% | 42% | 20% |
40 | Kazakhstan | 45% | 11–12% | |
41 | Serbia | 45% | ||
42 | Slovakia | 45% | 23% | 10–28% |
43 | Taiwan | 45% | 24% | |
44 | Mexico | 44% | 4% | |
45 | Vietnam | 44% | 46% | 44-81% |
46 | United States | 36% | 20% | 3–9% |
Can you write something on terrorism as a last resort to revenge hypocrisie? E.g. we’re 2016, the EU-28 started way before 2000, isn’t that time enough to make it impossible for money stashed in (Overseas) Tax Heavens like the UK Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein, The Netherlands, etc. to enter the EU Economic system again and put those who organise this in jail for massive tax evasion?
I consider myself Agnostic & a Humanist, but am affiliated with the UU church because we seek to dwell together in peace, seek knowledge in freedom, serve humanity in fellowship, and cherish the earth & it’s creatures. We do this with no dogma or promise of an after life reward.