In my previous post Atheism is Everywhere?, we saw what seems to be an exponential increase in the visibility of those professing non-belief in a ‘God’ in recent years. Religious scepticism and other issues pertaining to non-belief are now featured on major television programmes, there has been an explosion of secular groups worldwide and many prominent people have come out to declare themselves as atheists.
But just how many many people in the world declare themselves to be atheists, agnostics or non-believers?
Gathering information on non-belief has tended to be difficult, given the social stigma attached with declaring oneself to be an atheist. Aside from being ostracised by family members, such a person runs a risk of facing problems at his place of employment, difficulty in running for public office. In certain Islamic countries, the act of apostasy (abandoning the faith) is a capital crime that attracts the death penalty. For this reason, incidences of self professed non-belief tends to be concentrated in mainly liberal democracies in the northern hemisphere, especially Europe (including Australia and New Zealand).
Despite the difficulty in compiling data, a number of studies have been conducted to establish how many people in the world declare themselves to be atheist, agnostic, or non-religious. In this post we shall look at a few.
Atheism World Map (Red – Religious, Green – Atheist)
Worldwide
As part of the 2007 Cambridge Companion to Atheism, Phil Zuckerman, in the third chapter – Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns – compiled ‘a list of the top fifty countries containing the largest percentage of people who identify as atheist, agnostic, or non-believer in God’. According to Zuckerman, these figures are a ‘presentation of the findings of the most recently available surveys concerning rates of atheism, agnosticism, and non-belief in God in various countries worldwide’:
|
Country |
Total country |
% Atheist/Agnostic/ Nonbeliever in God |
Number of Atheists/Agnostics |
|
Sweden |
8,986,000 |
46 – 85% |
4,133,560 – 7,638,100 |
|
Vietnam |
82,690,000 |
81% |
66,978,900 |
|
Denmark |
5,413,000 |
43 – 80% |
2,327,590 – 4,330,400 |
|
Norway |
4,575,000 |
31 – 72% |
1,418,250 – 3,294,000 |
|
Japan |
127,333,000 |
64 – 65% |
81,493,120 – 82,766,450 |
|
Czech Republic |
10,246,100 |
54 – 61% |
5,328,940 – 6,250,121 |
|
Finland |
5,215,000 |
28 – 60% |
1,460,200 – 3,129,000 |
|
France |
60,424,000 |
43 – 54% |
25,982,320 – 32,628,960 |
|
South Korea |
48,598,000 |
30 – 52% |
14,579,400 – 25,270,960 |
|
Estonia |
1,342,000 |
49% |
657,580 |
|
Germany |
82,425,000 |
41 – 49% |
33,794,250 – 40,388,250 |
|
Russia |
143,782,000 |
24 – 48% |
34,507,680 – 69,015,360 |
|
Hungary |
10,032,000 |
32 – 46% |
3,210,240 – 4,614,720 |
|
Netherlands |
16,318,000 |
39 – 44% |
6,364,020 – 7,179,920 |
|
Britain |
60,271,000 |
31 – 44% |
18,684,010 – 26,519,240 |
|
Belgium |
10,348,000 |
42 – 43% |
4,346,160 – 4,449,640 |
|
Bulgaria |
7,518,000 |
34 – 40% |
2,556,120 – 3,007,200 |
|
Slovenia |
2,011,000 |
35 – 38% |
703,850 – 764,180 |
|
Israel |
6,199,000 |
15 – 37% |
929,850 – 2,293,630 |
|
Canada |
32,508,000 |
19 – 30% |
6,176,520 – 9,752,400 |
|
Latvia |
2,306,000 |
20 – 29% |
461,200 – 668,740 |
|
Slovakia |
5,424,000 |
10 – 28% |
542,400 – 1,518,720 |
|
Switzerland |
7,451,000 |
17 – 27% |
1,266,670 – 2,011,770 |
|
Austria |
8,175,000 |
18 – 26% |
1,471,500 – 2,125,500 |
|
Australia |
19,913,000 |
24 – 25% |
4,779,120 – 4,978,250 |
|
Taiwan |
22,750,000 |
24% |
5,460,000 |
|
Spain |
40,281,000 |
15 – 24% |
6,042,150 – 9,667,440 |
|
Iceland |
294,000 |
16 – 23% |
47,040 – 67,620 |
|
New Zealand |
3,994,000 |
20 – 22% |
798,800 – 878,680 |
|
Ukraine |
47,732,000 |
20% |
9,546,400 |
|
Belarus |
10,311,000 |
17% |
1,752,870 |
|
Greece |
10,648,000 |
16% |
1,703,680 |
|
North Korea |
22,698,000 |
15%* |
3,404,700 |
|
Italy |
58,057,000 |
6 – 15% |
3,483,420 – 8,708,550 |
|
Armenia |
2,991,000 |
14% |
418,740 |
|
China |
1,298,848,000 |
8 – 14%* |
103,907,840 – 181,838,720 |
|
Lithuania |
3,608,000 |
13% |
469,040 |
|
Singapore |
4,354,000 |
13% |
566,020 |
|
Uruguay |
3,399,000 |
12% |
407,880 |
|
Kazakhstan |
15,144,000 |
11 – 12% |
1,665,840 – 1,817,280 |
|
Mongolia |
2,751,000 |
9% |
247,590 |
|
Portugal |
10,524,000 |
4 – 9% |
420,960 – 947,160 |
|
USA |
293,028,000 |
3 – 9% |
8,790,840 – 26,822,520 |
|
Albania |
3,545,000 |
8% |
283,600 |
|
Argentina |
39,145,000 |
4 – 8% |
1,565,800 – 3,131,600 |
|
Kyrgyzstan |
5,081,000 |
7% |
355,670 |
|
Dominican Republic |
8,834,000 |
7% |
618,380 |
|
Cuba |
11,309,000 |
7%* |
791,630 |
|
Croatia |
4,497,000 |
7% |
314,790 |
(from 2007 Cambridge Companion to Atheism – Chapter 3 – Atheism: Contemporary Numbers and Patterns [Zuckerman], pg.56)
Europe
According to Wikipedia, Eurostat is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide the European Union with statistical information at European level and to promote the harmonisation of statistical methods across the Member States of the European Union, candidate countries and European Free Trade Association countries. Since 1973, the European Commission has been monitoring the evolution of public opinion in the Member States, thus helping the preparation of texts, decision-making and the evaluation of its work. In 2005 it came out with its Eurobarometer survey, and below were the findings with regard to the study of religiosity across Europe:
|
Country |
Belief in a god |
Belief in a spirit |
Belief in neither a spirit, god or life force |
|
95% |
2% |
1% |
|
|
95% |
3% |
1% |
|
|
90% |
7% |
2% |
|
|
90% |
8% |
1% |
|
|
81% |
16% |
3% |
|
|
81% |
12% |
6% |
|
|
80% |
15% |
1% |
|
|
74% |
16% |
6% |
|
|
73% |
22% |
4% |
|
|
67% |
25% |
7% |
|
|
61% |
26% |
11% |
|
|
59% |
21% |
18% |
|
|
54% |
34% |
8% |
|
|
49% |
36% |
12% |
|
|
48% |
39% |
9% |
|
|
47% |
25% |
25% |
|
|
44% |
28% |
22% |
|
|
44% |
31% |
19% |
|
|
43% |
29% |
27% |
|
|
41% |
41% |
16% |
|
|
40% |
40% |
13% |
|
|
38% |
48% |
11% |
|
|
38% |
40% |
20% |
|
|
37% |
49% |
10% |
|
|
37% |
46% |
16% |
|
|
34% |
27% |
33% |
|
|
34% |
37% |
27% |
|
|
32% |
47% |
17% |
|
|
31% |
49% |
19% |
|
|
23% |
53% |
23% |
|
|
19% |
50% |
30% |
|
|
16% |
54% |
26% |
(from the 2005 Eurobarometer survey)
What about Africa?
From Zuckerman’s report:
-
According to a 2004 survey commissioned by the BBC, Hiorth (2001) Inglehart et al (2004, 1998), Barrett et al (2001), the 1999 Gallup International Poll, and Johnstone (1993), less than 1% of those in Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, are atheist, agnostic, or nonreligious.
-
According to Johnstone (1993), 2.7% of those in Congo, 4% of those in Zimbabwe, 4% of those in Namibia, 1.5% of those in Angola and the Central African Republic, and 5% of those in Mozambique are nonreligious.
-
According to a 1999 Gallup International Poll, nearly 11% of South Africans chose “none” as their religion. According to Inglehart et al (2004), 1% of South Africans do not believe in God.
Uganda
As far as Uganda is concerned, Uganda Bureau of Statistics in 2002 conducted the Uganda Population and Housing Census in which household-based data on population, housing, agriculture, micro and small enterprises as well as community–based data was collected. It is considered to be the most comprehensive census ever undertaken in Uganda, gathering data from up to the sub-county level. On religious affiliations of Ugandans, it reported the following:
| Religious Denominiations | Number | Percent |
| Catholics | 10,242,594 | 41.9 |
| Church of Uganda | 8,782,821 | 35.9 |
| Muslims | 2,956,121 | 12.1 |
| Pentecostals | 1,129,647 | 4.6 |
| SDA | 367,972 | 1.5 |
| Other Christians | 286,581 | 1.2 |
| Traditional | 241,630 | 1.0 |
| Other Non-Christians | 159,259 | 0.7 |
| Orthodox | 35,505 | 0.1 |
| Bahai | 18,614 | 0.1 |
| None | 212,388 | 0.9 |
(from Uganda Population and Housing Census pg.8)
‘None’… 212,388.
25 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 27, 2011 at 9:03 pm
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[...] and violence whatsoever. Countries like Japan, Sweden, and the Netherlands which rank among the least religious countries in the world, are also the countries that are the safest, with the best record on respect for human rights in [...]
November 15, 2012 at 12:11 am
grok
SCrew your anti-communism. The facts here demonstrate that being atheist does not make you amoral or immoral. Got it?
January 21, 2013 at 3:40 pm
themayan
Nagasaki was once the Christian capital of Japan with a virtually zero crime rate.
Frances has a very high rate of atheist but they also have a substantial crime rate. Seychelles has one of the lowest crime rates with a Catholic majority.
June 9, 2011 at 9:52 pm
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March 10, 2012 at 11:55 pm
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[...] and violence whatsoever. Countries like Japan, Sweden, and the Netherlands which rank among the least religious countries in the world, are also the countries that are the safest, with the best record on respect for human rights in [...]
March 20, 2012 at 6:49 pm
Bill Green
When we talk about more than one billion humans, you may also be aware that almost 400,000,000 Buddhists do not believe in a single all knowing deity. If these are added that takes the numbers to over 1.5 billion.
Most people adopt the religion of their parents. Children generally do not get a choice until they come of age, even then some religions will not let you go even if you are no longer believer and never attend a place of worship. Most people become atheist/humanist/agnostic/non-religious after much consideration of the options and are usually 16 years plus when they do. So are (more or less) adults.
Most religions include all children in their numerical assertions. More than 25% of World population is 15 and under. We therefore ask the question, when it comes to numbers, how many adult adherents does each faith actually have?
June 28, 2012 at 12:36 am
jeremy
i will also add to the statment about buddhist people not believing in there god even though i think that # is a bit high there is also a lot of jewish people how do not believin there gods also and there are 15 million of them in the world
August 1, 2012 at 7:58 pm
daniel gorshelev
fuck religion.
December 27, 2012 at 12:58 am
God
HEY!
August 7, 2012 at 9:03 pm
mommiesg2
Atheism has a strong argument of God not being real, because the is no proof that either there is a God somewhere or there is not. The idea that black people envented God during slavery to free them of suffering is a spirit they gave credit for after perforrming animal sacrafices, rutlals and heavely prayers of freedom from their oppressors. However another statement that God created the heavens, the earth, man and woman in his own image, therefore God was here before the black african now americans which says we are one no matter how we look externally.
September 4, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Mansuri Irfan
you cannot see air but it exist, same you cannot see got but it is. You will realize it after death. This is “Darul Amal” and life after death is “Darul Jaza”. Be careful this is a one chance nobody get second chance, don’t waste it. Study on it and find the truth.
November 15, 2012 at 12:08 am
grok
Stuff your religion, Irfan.
March 25, 2013 at 8:42 am
ceolwynn
these adult versions of “santa clause”, will eventually die off with the old people… and the world will be a better place once all these ridiculous “invisible magic man” fanatics are gone to their HUGE paycheck lands in the sky !!! I know the world will one day be like Norway and sweden, peaceful, FREEDOM rich, economically stable… and all because of their huge majority of non-believers… all it takes is one glance at a world map of islam, and how it is almost exactly the same as the world map of poverty, violence, and abuse, to realize that education and wise open eyes will win the day. eventually all the world will want to live like norway and sweden do right now with their majority atheist population.
September 16, 2012 at 10:46 pm
Redniski
It is a very daring endeavor to start this kind of discourse in the highly superstitious Uganda. In my own country Ethiopia too, as the data presented above shows, the awareness of people that religious thinking should be made as subject to criticism as any other is staggeringly very low. Despite my previous scanty attempts with close friends, I would appreciate suggestions as to how I can safely bring people here to their senses on the massive pile of evidence in support of a mindless world.
March 25, 2013 at 8:51 am
ceolwynn
wow, a great question redniski !!! if I was listed as a religion, it would be Buddhist,,, for two reasons… while being abused in my youth by extreme christianity in the souther USA, I could only read the books available in the church schools my parents trapped me in… and one of those books they had was the iching. it had no god, and lots of logic stuff !!! logic stuff I used against the crazy christian teachers… here is what I learned from Logical buddhism as a way to pry open other peoples eyes…
for example…
show them the questions in your mind, that were your stepping stones to how you became who you are now…
hey ? my friend ! have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were born in china to buddhist parfents and now today you would be a buddhist like all the other people born in china ??? ”
or … pick india and hinduism ? and by hearing this seemingly harmless question, their mind is forced to consider the truth about religion being only a matter of the area of the world you are bron into…
one thing I like to do is ask how someone feels about god killing little children, but I pose the question as if a human did it, like, did you hear about the guy who murdered the kids of this man he was mad at ? to get even with the man he was mad at ? should someone be punished for doing that ? I mean… is it wrong to kill children to anger your enemy ? then when they ask where did I hear about this atrocity from, I say, the bible …
vague questions, can get images into a listening mind, before the mind has a chance to sheild the logic from their religion, if the question is posed right.
September 18, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Marco
Notice that 212,388 people in Uganda, 0.9% of the population, are here considered to be “none.”
Hypothetically-speaking, if 212,388 members of ANY religion were murdered for their beliefs, for their faith, would these likewise be listed as “none”?
“Believers” who would normally conflict with each other sometimes gang up together–when faced with nonbelievers–to create a false majority, which, unfortunately, rules.
October 26, 2012 at 3:15 pm
N S Amin
To be or to become a good person religion or god is not necessary but a good heart & a sane mind is required. All those religions & idealisms divide people which one has to observe & understand. Everywhere the so called religious people make different types of nuisance, violence, causes misery to others. You know “we love god but we do not love each other”. As for as I understand in my life that there is no god at all. This is just imagination of man & man worships his own imagination, which is false & for nothing. When we are not independent we depend on others & become a prey for others thought. Just look around, look at the poor, look at the suffering people physically, mentally, look at the trouble, calamities around, look at the pain of others, we will find how helpless one is. No god, savior, magic or anything will save you except science & technology give relief to certain extent but no miracle. I am proud to call myself as an Atheist !
October 29, 2012 at 5:34 pm
cheese boy
cheese fries :I
November 3, 2012 at 2:03 am
home decor
Hurrah! Finally I got a web site from where I be able to in
fact obtain valuable information regarding my study and knowledge.
November 15, 2012 at 12:07 am
grok
I’m really surprised to see such a low percentage for China. I thought a large majority of chinese were atheists.
December 27, 2012 at 1:10 am
God
All of you atheists are flawed. I do exist. I am, however, not a big fan of religion. I created the universe and all in it. That is enough for me! I don’t need nor want all of you to worship me. I would like you all to acknowledge me, though. I am not the traditional God of religions, if anything I am can be best described as the Desit/Panantheists god. I would like you all to acknowledge me, but in no way do I want you all to live BY me. Live life. I made no heaven, no hell, but I do have something in store for you all when you guys die. I would like to keep it a surpirise though!
January 1, 2013 at 6:26 pm
Art. Dellow
To believe in a god for your own self interest is a form of mental illness.
January 6, 2013 at 8:53 am
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January 25, 2013 at 8:23 pm
John D
Utter bullshit. The peoples republic of China 8-14% atheist and the democratic republic of North Korea 15% atheist. These “statistics” have ZERO credibility. All discussion of them is clearly similarly full of bullshit.
February 12, 2013 at 5:27 am
georgeo fuck off
i wish i would have seen your comment earlier. i wrote about half my essay off of these stats. i looked them up after seeing ur comment.