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.
Freethought Kampala 
42 comments
Comments feed for this article
January 27, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Atheism and the Totalitarian Communist Regimes of the 20th Century | Empress of the Global Universe
[…] 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.
April 29, 2014 at 9:31 pm
urnotathinkerareu
This says more about the political laws than the religious make-up as causitive. How many people in prison believe in god and how many are athiests. You will find 95 % are christians or believe in god…thats a fact dear.
June 9, 2011 at 9:52 pm
What's your race type? - Page 186 - Stormfront
[…] […]
March 10, 2012 at 11:55 pm
Atheism is not an ideology or a world view « Mormonism or All Religions – Scam or True
[…] 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.
October 6, 2013 at 12:50 pm
si
No, not “therefore”. There is no god.
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.
October 6, 2013 at 12:53 pm
si
You can measure air though, and in fact you can see it using an electron microscope. The thing about gods and souls is you can’t measure them. This is because they don’t exist.
April 29, 2014 at 9:40 pm
urnotathinkerareu
I cannot see your brain either but I know it cannot think by your remarks. You cannot SEE air at our eyes visual spectrum but we know it is there through the microscopic and can actually SEE it. Your analogy is an invalid comparison because scientifically you are illiterate.
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…
show them the questions in your mind, that were your stepping stones to how you became who you are now… 🙂 for example…
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.
April 29, 2014 at 9:34 pm
urnotathinkerareu
That simply goes to show people that without evidence people believe the propoganda…like religion
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!
February 5, 2015 at 2:20 am
Satan
Stfu and finish my lunch
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
Sverige: De Otrognas Rike? « Paulus Indomitus
[…] Bloggen Freethought Kampala tar upp mängder av statistik och gör jämförelser apropå mängder icke-troende, land för land och per kontinent – se https://freethoughtkampala.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/how-many-atheists-are-there-in-the-world/ […]
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.
April 29, 2014 at 9:41 pm
urnotathinkerareu
so what does your evidence say?
May 22, 2013 at 1:22 pm
Is there a correlation between atheism, and increased crime? - Religious Education Forum
[…] rates (dark = large) Equality: Sources (I didn't do much checking, but you are welcome to): How Many Atheists Are There In The World? | Freethought Kampala List of countries by income equality – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia List of countries by […]
June 6, 2013 at 5:05 pm
This stuff makes me sick! - Page 3
[…] and Islam | Mail Online National Secular Society – Number of atheists around the world is rising How Many Atheists Are There In The World? | Freethought Kampala Reply With […]
June 24, 2014 at 7:55 pm
The Jesus Lizard Book pdf
Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon everyday.
It will always be useful to read through articles
from other writers and use something from their websites.
July 3, 2014 at 3:46 am
book download
all the time i used to read smaller articles that also clear their motive, and that is also happening with this post which I am reading here.
August 6, 2014 at 9:52 pm
Blog Plan Cul
Hurrah, that’s what I was exploring for, what a material!
present here at this webpage, thanks admin of this web site.
August 26, 2014 at 12:06 am
Anonymous
[…] […]
February 5, 2015 at 2:18 am
hunter
In the last few year’s of research more religious people have changed they’re believes to atheism because of one irrefutable fact. There is no proof outside of writing that a god does exist but at the same time if there is no proof that there is no god outside of writing that god exists then there is no reason to try to disprove something that cannot be proven
If anyone disagrees please do contact me and show me a god made structure that does not follow the same rules of physics that the world we have come to know follows, once done and publicized atheism can no longer exist untill that day comes I and many others will not believe in a single or multiple god/s.
“the truth hurts, but does not kill. Just inform”
-gustouf.n.schziëzelheím
April 16, 2015 at 11:53 pm
Gary M
While I agree that the over the years the number of atheists has risen, I really don’t think by as much as shown. Since the info came from an atheists (Phil Zuckerman), I’m sure that he has inflated the number to make it seem that there are more than actually exist. If people believe in the above info, I also read that nearly all homosexuals are atheists. No matter what you believe, the world would be a much better place if it had not been for Magdalene Murry O’Hair.
August 22, 2015 at 9:23 am
Roger Raj
There is no place for religion or God in a modern society, God is just a theory that leads to many contradictions. Once we find a way to reverse cell-aging, people will stop believing in God. We are about 10,000 years away unfortunately.
September 30, 2015 at 10:31 am
Slavisa
lol at the fact that my country, Serbia, isn’t there, they probably didn’t allow statisticians in to do the surveys. Christ sake, it’s even the last on the list of mean IQ in Europe, right at the bottom. I feel ashamed of the low level of scientific integrity in my country.