Irreligion by country

World nonreligious population by percentage, Dentsu Institute (2006) and Zuckerman (2005)[1]

Irreligion (encompassing atheism, agnosticism, ignosticism, antireligion, skepticism, freethought, antitheism, apatheism, non-belief, secular humanism, or deism) varies in the different countries around the world.

Sixteen percent of the world population (1.1 billion people) are considered non-religious.[2]

By proportion

The Gallup poll has the most broad definition of irreligion: the question "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" was asked; the "no" answer is represented below. Dentsu Communication Institute provides data for respondents who stated they have "no religion". Phil Zuckerman uses the number who describe themselves as atheist or agnostic. The numbers come from different years, and might not be accurate for countries with governments that require or urge religion or secularism.

Country Gallup[3]
(2006–2011)		 Dentsu[4]
(2006)		 Zuckerman[5]
(2005)
 Afghanistan 3%
 Albania 53% 8%
 Algeria 9%
 Angola 10%
 Argentina 30% 13% 4–8%
 Armenia 18% 34%
 Australia (details) 67% 24–25%
 Austria 51% 12% 18–26%
 Azerbaijan 54%
 Bahrain 10%
 Bangladesh 12%
 Belarus 50% 48% 17%
 Belgium (details) 68% 35% 42–43%
 Belize 33%
 Benin 6%
 Bolivia 13%
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 38%
 Botswana 16%
 Brazil 10%
 Bulgaria 58% 30% 34–40%
 Burkina Faso 6%
 Burundi 2%
 Cambodia 3%
 Cameroon 6%
 Canada (details) 61% 26% 19–30%
 Central African Republic 1%
 Chad 7%
 Chile 27% 34%
 China 82% 93% 8–14%
 Colombia 13%
 Comoros 1%
 Democratic Republic of the Congo 5%
 Republic of the Congo 6%
 Costa Rica 17%
 Côte d'Ivoire 12%
 Croatia 29% 13% 7%
 Cuba 64% 7%
 Cyprus 26%
 Czech Republic 72% 64% 54–61%
 Denmark 83% 10% 43–80%
 Djibouti 3%
 Dominican Republic 14% 7%
 Ecuador 2%
 Egypt 4%
 El Salvador 13%
 Estonia 78% 76% 49%
 Ethiopia 10%
 Finland 69% 12% 28–60%
 France (details) 74% 43% 43–54%
 Georgia 15%
 Germany 62% 25% 41–49%
 Ghana 4%
 Greece 24% 4% 16%
 Guatemala 10%
 Guinea 2%
 Guyana 11%
 Haiti 8%
 Honduras 13%
 Hong Kong 74%
 Hungary 63% 43% 32–46%
 Iceland 60% 4% 16–23%
 India (details) 9% 7%
 Indonesia 1%
 Iran 8% 1%
 Iraq 15%
 Ireland 49% 7%
 Israel 54% 15–37%
 Italy 30% 18% 6–15%
 Jamaica 29%
 Japan 71% 52% 64–65%
 Jordan 4%
 Kazakhstan 45% 11–12%
 Kenya 3%
 Kosovo 9%
 Kuwait 2%
 Kyrgyzstan 36% 7%
 Laos 3%
 Latvia 58% 41% 20–29%
 Lebanon 13%
 Liberia 7%
 Libya 12%
 Lithuania 52% 19% 13%
 Luxembourg 64% 30%
 Macedonia 23%
 Madagascar 7%
 Malawi 1%
 Malaysia 10%
 Mali 3%
 Malta 14% 1%
 Mauritania 2%
 Mexico (details) 44% 4%
 Moldova 21%
 Mongolia 50% 9%
 Montenegro 38%
 Morocco 6%
 Mozambique 13%
 Myanmar 3%
 Namibia 8%
 Nepal 5%
 Netherlands 65% 55% 39–44%
 New Zealand (details) 67% 20–22%
 Nicaragua 19%
 Niger 2%
 Nigeria 2% 1%
 North Korea 15%
 Norway 78% 31–72%
 Pakistan 4%
 Palestinian territories 5%
 Panama 11%
 Paraguay 10%
 Peru 15% 5%
 Philippines 6% 11%
 Poland 24% 5%
 Portugal 33% 11% 4–9%
 Puerto Rico 13% 11%
 Qatar 4%
 Romania 17% 2%
 Russia 59% 48% 24–48%
 Rwanda 5%
 Saudi Arabia 4%
 Senegal 3%
 Serbia 45%
 Sierra Leone 1%
 Singapore (details) 53% 13%
 Slovakia 45% 23% 10–28%
 Slovenia 51% 30% 35–38%
 South Africa 20% 11%
 South Korea 52% 37% 30–52%
 Spain 55% 16% 15–24%
 Sri Lanka (details) 2%
 Sudan 9%
 Sweden 88% 25% 46–85%
 Switzerland 57% 17–27%
 Syria 15%
 Taiwan 45% 24%
 Tajikistan 11%
 Tanzania 5% 2%
 Thailand 2%
 Togo 13%
 Trinidad and Tobago 8%
 Tunisia 7%
 Turkey 13% 3%
 Turkmenistan 18%
 Uganda 5% 1%
 Ukraine 46% 42% 20%
 United Arab Emirates 4%
 United Kingdom (details) 76% 31–44%
 United States (details) 36% 20% 3–9%
 Uruguay 64% 12%
 Uzbekistan 39%
 Venezuela 19% 27%
 Vietnam 44% 46% 81%
 Yemen 1%
 Zambia 5%
 Zimbabwe 9%

By population

Countries with the greatest number of people without religion (including agnostics and atheists) based on the total population of each country as of 2004 compared to the percentage of nonreligious people according to Zuckerman:[6]

Country People without religion
 China 103,907,840 - 181,838,720
 Japan 81,493,120 - 82,766,450
 Vietnam 66,978,900
 Russia 34,507,680 - 69,015,360
 Germany 33,794,250 - 40,388,250
 France 25,982,320 - 32,628,960
 United Kingdom 18,684,010 - 26,519,240
 South Korea 14,579,400 - 25,270,960
 Ukraine 9,546,400
 United States 8,790,840 - 26,822,520
 Netherlands 6,364,020 - 7,179,920
 Canada 6,176,520 - 9,752,400
 Spain 6,042,150 - 9,667,440
 Taiwan 5,460,000
 Czech Republic 5,328,940 - 6,250,121
 Australia 4,779,120 - 4,978,250
 Belgium 4,346,160 - 4,449,640
 Sweden 4,133,560 - 7,638,100
 Italy 3,483,420 - 8,708,550
 North Korea 3,404,700
 Hungary 3,210,240 - 4,614,720
 Bulgaria 2,556,120 - 3,007,200
 Denmark 2,327,590 - 4,330,400
 Belarus 1,752,870
 Greece 1,703,680
 Kazakhstan 1,665,840 - 1,817,280
 Argentina 1,565,800 - 3,131,600
 Austria 1,471,500 - 2,125,500
 Finland 1,460,200 - 3,129,000
 Norway 1,418,250 - 3,294,000
 Switzerland 1,266,670 - 2,011,770
 Israel 929,850 - 2,293,630
 New Zealand 798,800 - 878,680
 Cuba 791,630
 Slovenia 703,850 - 764,180
 Estonia 657,580
 Dominican Republic 618,380
 Singapore 566,020
 Slovakia 542,400 - 1,518,720
 Lithuania 469,040
 Latvia 461,200 - 668,740
 Portugal 420,960 - 947,160
 Armenia 418,740
 Uruguay 407,880
 Kyrgyzstan 355,670
 Croatia 314,790
 Albania 283,600
 Mongolia 247,590
 Estonia 147,620
 Iceland 47,040 - 67,620

See also

References

  1. ^ Based on the data of the Dentsu Communication Institute and the data of Zuckerman. Largest values taken.
  2. ^ Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents adherents.com
  3. ^ GALLUP WorldView - data accessed on 14 September 2011
  4. ^ Dentsu Communication Institute 電通総研・日本リサーチセンター編「世界60カ国価値観データブック (Japanese)
  5. ^ Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", from the Cambridge Companion to Atheism, edited by Michael Martin, University of Cambridge Press, 2007
  6. ^ Zuckerman, Phil (2006), Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", The Cambridge Companion to Atheism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), http://atheism.110mb.com/ Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns 
Atheism
Agnosticism
Nontheism
Naturalism
Related topics