The Human Truth Foundation

How Religious is Each Country? Which Regions of the World are Least Religious?

http://www.humanreligions.info/how_religious_is_each_country.html

By Vexen Crabtree 2023

#religion #religiosity #secularisation

Religiosity (2018)1
Pos.Lower is better
%1
1China3
2Estonia6
3Czechia7
4Switzerland9
5Denmark9
6Germany10
7UK10
8Sweden10
9Japan10
10Finland10
...
102Indonesia93
103Mali94
104Pakistan94
105Ethiopia98
106Senegal98
q=106.
High rates of religion are directly and indirectly linked with many inequalities and problems. For example, male-dominated society and abuse of women, gender inequality, poor adoption of human rights and anti-science and poor education policies. The data used here is part of the Social and Moral Index formula2 to grant points based on areligiosity. The data set on belief in god is only informational, as such personal beliefs are not the same thing as organised, endemic religion. Note that on official polls, many answer the question 'are you religious' in the way they think is correct and traditional, rather than the way that is accurate; hence the 2018 asks people if they are very religious3.

The developed world is becoming increasingly non-religious as part of a process called secularisation and portions of the rest of the world are following suit4; secularisation is especially prominent in Europe5.

The least religious countries are China (3%), Estonia (6%) and Czechia (7%)1 and those with the lowest belief in god(s) are Vietnam (81%), Japan (65%) and Sweden (64%)6. Conversely, the most religious countries are Ethiopia (98%), Senegal (98%) and Mali (94%)1 and the most religious regions of the world are Africa (86.96%), Central America (81.5%) and The Caribbean (78%)1.


1. Which Regions of the World are Most or Least Religious

#belief #god #prayer #religion #religiosity #secularisation

AreaReligiosity (2018)
%1
Religiosity (2009)
%1
Disbelief In God (2007)
%6
Daily Prayer (2018)
%7
Africa...87.094.70.575.4
Asia...55.877.38.951.5
Australasia18.023.518.0
Baltic States11.032.327.314.0
Central America81.584.31.076.5
Europe...25.855.223.625.4
North America69.977.37.265.5
Scandinavia...10.817.339.313.2
Small Islands...77.584.88.070.5
South America60.577.32.554.1
The Americas...65.477.35.360.0
The Balkans37.768.319.329.0
The Caribbean...77.587.011.870.5
The Mediterranean52.173.69.946.4
The Middle East...70.587.21.867.3
World54.375.19.949.0

The religiosity data from 2009 and 2018 isn't directly comparable due to different methods of getting the data, but, it is still consistent with multiple other datasets on religious belief that show a decline over time.

The Daily Prayer data shows the proportion of populations who say that they pray daily, averaged for the countries within each region.

2. Institutionalized Religions Have Their Numbers Inflated by National Polls

#atheism #christianity #islam #judaism #religion #statistics

Once a religion has become institutionalized or popular, some trends appear that serve to exaggerate statistical measurements of the numbers of adherents (followers) it has. Firstly, people start telling officials that they 'are' a religion for traditional reasons to do with family rather than because it is what they truly believe. Secondly, people start exaggerating how much they are engaged with the religion, i.e. how often they attend religious events such as going to Church on Sunday. Thirdly, the religion itself becomes more diverse and so encompasses a greater number of believers in various things. Fourthly, cultural norms merge with religious norms to produce distinctive practices that are hard to separate into pure categories of religion or culture, meaning that some religionists follow cultural norms without actually believing in the religious side (hence the appearance of atheist Jews, etc). Fifthly and finally, a large number of theologically-illiterate laypeople will confuse any generally religious beliefs with whatever the dominant religion is in their community. So, in Christian countries those who merely believe in God are called Christian whether or not they believe in the complications of Christian theology, but in Muslim countries those same people would call themselves Muslim because they believe in God, whether or not they believe in Islam. Established and traditional religions are over-represented in polls.

For more, see:

For this reason, the 2018 data asks people if they are very religious, and hence, this separates those who say 'yes' to the question 'are you religious?' but out of reasons of tradition: such people are more likely to answer more soberly if asked if they are very religious. Also, for populations of strict authoritarian fundamentalist governments, who are often afraid that they will be punished for putting the 'wrong answer' to the question 'are you religious?' can in fact answer more honestly when asked if they are very religious.

3. Disbelief in God

#atheism #belief #buddhism #china #god #monotheism #polytheism #religion #taoism #theism

Disbelief In God (2007)6
Pos.Higher is better
%6
1Vietnam81
2Japan65
3Sweden64
4Czechia61
5Estonia49
6Denmark48
7France44
8Belgium43
9Netherlands42
10Germany42
q=137.

Atheism is the non-belief in god(s). Atheists are those who have no belief in god(s). After China, where fewer than 10% believe in god(s), the most atheist countries are Vietnam (81%), Japan (65%), Sweden (64%), Czechia (61%) and Estonia (49%)6. All humans (and animals, and everything else) are atheist until they first learn about the idea of gods, and come to believe in at least one of them. We're all born atheist8 just as we're also born non-religious and apolitical. Atheism isn't, therefore, "a religion" and nor should it be capitalized, any more than "monotheist" or "polytheist" should be. It is unfortunate that despite the minimalist meaning of the word atheist, many theists "eagerly pack that term with as many negative connotations as they can"8. Also in the English-speaking world, many people's definition of religion is biased towards monotheism9,10 and so many people mistakenly think that "not believing in god" makes a person non-religious, and therefore, that anyone who is an atheist is non-religious. That's not true - there are some atheist religions, like Buddhism and Taoism, and "atheist" means only no belief in god(s) and does not mean "not religious in general". Atheism is not the opposite to religion, it is only the opposite to theism.

For more, see:

4. How Religion is Each Country?

#religion #religiosity #secularisation

Religiosity (2018)1
Pos.Lower is better
%1
1China3
2Estonia6
3Czechia7
4Switzerland9
5Denmark9
6Germany10
7UK10
8Sweden10
9Japan10
10Finland10
11Latvia11
12France11
13Belgium11
14Austria12
15Hungary14
16Albania15
17Lithuania16
18S. Korea16
19Russia16
20Australia18
q=106.
Religiosity (2018)1
Pos.Lower is better
%1
21Vietnam18
22Bulgaria19
23Norway19
24Netherlands20
25Italy21
26Belarus21
27Ireland22
28Kazakhstan22
29Spain22
30Slovakia23
31Ukraine23
32Canada27
33Uzbekistan29
34Uruguay29
35Poland30
36Serbia34
37Israel36
38Portugal36
39Azerbaijan38
40Chile41
q=106.
Religiosity (2018)1
Pos.Lower is better
%1
41Croatia42
42Moldova42
43Argentina43
44Mexico45
45Kyrgyzstan47
46Kosovo48
47Tajikistan50
48Romania50
49Georgia51
50Armenia53
51USA53
52Bosnia & Herzegovina54
53Greece56
54Paraguay56
55Lebanon57
56Panama61
57Venezuela67
58Turkey68
59Bolivia71
60Botswana71
q=106.
Religiosity (2018)1
Pos.Lower is better
%1
61Brazil72
62Egypt72
63Algeria73
64Peru73
65S. Africa75
66Ecuador76
67Costa Rica76
68Puerto Rico77
69Malaysia77
70Colombia77
71Dominican Rep.78
72Iran78
73Tunisia78
74Bangladesh80
75India80
76Iraq82
77El Salvador85
78Jordan85
79Palestine86
80Uganda86
q=106.
Religiosity (2018)1
Pos.Lower is better
%1
81Chad86
82Niger86
83Kenya87
84Mozambique87
85Congo, DR88
86Nigeria88
87Nicaragua88
88Djibouti89
89Ghana89
90Guatemala89
91Honduras90
92Cameroon90
93Rwanda90
94Liberia90
95Morocco91
96Guinea-Bissau91
97Philippines91
98Zambia91
99Afghanistan92
100Burkina Faso93
q=106.
Religiosity (2018)1
Pos.Lower is better
%1
101Tanzania93
102Indonesia93
103Mali94
104Pakistan94
105Ethiopia98
106Senegal98
q=106.

5. Religion in Europe

#christianity #estonia #europe #france #islam #judaism #malta #religion #religion_in_europe

Over the last 60 years, religion in Europe has seen a strong decline. On average throughout the 27 EU countries, only half of its people believe in God11 and 25.4% directly say that they have no religion12. There is much variation from country to country. Only 16% of the populace of Estonia believe in God and the Scandinavian countries are highly atheist. But 95% believe in Malta. Two main social groups are particularly prone to belief in God; those over 55 years old and those whose education did not proceed beyond the 15-year-old stage.11. For a discussion on secularisation in general, see: "Secularisation Theory: Will Modern Society Reject Religion? What is Secularism?" by Vexen Crabtree

Despite the low rate of belief in God, many Europeans still claim to belong to theistic religions. 49.5% of the population of Europe say they are Catholic Christian, 15.7% say they're Muslim, 12.7% say they're Protestant Christian, 8.6% say they're Orthodox Christian and 0.4% say they are Jewish12. These numbers mean that at least 30% of Europeans are putting down a religion despite not believing in the very basic first principal of the religion they put down. In some places, this percent is higher. In France only 52% of Catholic believe in God and "only 18 percent define God according to the teachings of the Catholic Church"13. This is all because most people in Europe confuse religion and cultural heritage, and for many the actual beliefs of a religion don't really matter. For a discussion of this, see: "Institutionalized Religions Have Their Numbers Inflated by National Polls" by Vexen Crabtree.

For more, see:

6. Secularisation Theory: Will Modern Society Reject Religion? What is Secularism?