Demographics of atheism

Atheists comprise an estimated 2.01%, and non-religious a further 16% of the world population. In East Asia, atheists and the irreligious are the majority. Outside of East Asia and some European countries atheist or non-believer percentages are typically in the single digits. According to a study by WIN-Gallup International, the number of atheists is on the rise across the world, with religiosity generally declining. On the other hand, a study by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity has concluded that atheism is on a global decline due to continuing steady increases in religiosity in China, which harbors the majority of atheists and non-religious people, and Eastern Europe which has had significant changes in religiosity after the fall of communism. Generally the trend is a return to religion in areas that were under state dominated doctrines that promoted atheism as the official state ideology.

Social scientific assessment of the extent of "atheism" in various populations is beset with a number of problems. First, in most of the world outside of East Asia the vast majority of the populations are believers in either a monotheistic or polytheistic system, typically being cited as 80% or more in United States and India. Consequently questions to assess non belief often take the form of any negation of the prevailing belief rather than an assertion of positive atheism and these will then be accounted, accurately (due to a proper definition of atheism being in reference to literal translation, simply one without theism), to rising "atheism".

Atheistic schools are found in early Indian thought and have existed from the times of the historical Vedic religion. Western atheism has its roots in pre-Socratic Greek philosophy, but did not emerge as a distinct world-view until the late Enlightenment.

Studies and statistics
The demographics of atheism are substantially difficult to quantify. Different people interpret atheism and related terms differently, and it can be hard to draw boundaries between atheism, nonreligious beliefs, and nontheistic religious and spiritual beliefs. Furthermore, atheists may not report themselves as such, to prevent suffering from social stigma, discrimination, and persecution in some countries.

Because some governments have strongly promoted atheism and others have strongly condemned it, atheism may be either over-reported or under-reported for different countries. There is a great deal of room for debate as to the accuracy of any method of estimation, as the opportunity for misreporting (intentionally or not) a category of people without an organizational structure is high. Also, many surveys on religious identification ask people to identify themselves as "agnostics" or "atheists", which is potentially confusing, since these terms are interpreted differently, with some identifying themselves as being agnostic atheists. Additionally, many of these surveys only gauge the number of irreligious people, not the number of actual atheists, or group the two together. For example, research indicates that the fastest growing religious status may be "no religion" in the United States, but this includes all kinds of atheists, agnostics, and theists. Non-religious people make up 9.66%, while one fifth of them are atheists.

Statistical problems
Statistics on atheism are often difficult to represent accurately for a variety of reasons. Atheism is a position compatible with other forms of identity. Some atheists also consider themselves Agnostic, Buddhist, Hindu, Jains, Taoist, or hold other related philosophical beliefs. Some, like Secular Jews and Shintoists, may indulge in some religious activities as a way of connecting with their culture, all the while being atheist. Therefore, given limited poll options, some may use other terms to describe their identity. Some politically motivated organizations that report or gather population statistics may, intentionally or unintentionally, misrepresent atheists. Survey designs may bias results due to the nature of elements such as the wording of questions and the available response options. Also, many atheists, particularly former Catholics and former Mormons, are still counted as Christians in church rosters, although surveys generally ask samples of the population and do not look in church rosters. Other Christians believe that "once a person is [truly] saved, that person is always saved", a doctrine known as eternal security. Statistics are generally collected on the assumption that religion is a categorical variable. Instruments have been designed to measure attitudes toward religion, including one that was used by L. L. Thurstone. This may be a particularly important consideration among people who have neutral attitudes, as it is more likely that prevailing social norms will influence the responses of such people on survey questions that effectively force respondents to categorize themselves either as belonging to a particular religion or belonging to no religion. A negative perception of atheists and pressure from family and peers may also cause some atheists to disassociate themselves from atheism. Misunderstanding of the term may also be a reason some label themselves differently.

For example, a Canadian poll released September 12, 2011 sampled 1,129 Canadian adults and came up with some interesting unrelated data on the numbers of declared atheists. These numbers conflicted with the latest Canadian census data that pre-supposed that a religious affiliation predisposed a belief in a deity and was based on a poorly worded question. A quote from the study:

The data also revealed some interesting facts about Canadians beliefs:
 * A majority (53%) of Canadians believe in God. What is of particular interest is that 28% of Protestants, 33% of Catholics, and 23% of those who attend weekly religious services do not.
 * One quarter (23%) of those with no religious identity still believe in God.

Personality profiles
A study on personality and religiosity found that members of secular organizations (like the international Center for Inquiry) have similar personality profiles to members of religious groups. This study found that members of secular organizations are very likely to label themselves primarily as "atheists", but also very likely to consider themselves humanists. It was also found that secular group members show no significant differences in their negative or positive affect. The surveyed individuals also had similar profiles for conscientiousness (discipline or impulse control, and acting on values like "pursuit of truth"). Secular group members tended to be less agreeable (e.g. more likely to hold unpopular, socially challenging views), as well as more open minded (e.g. more likely to consider new ideas) than members of religious groups. Luke Galen, a personality researcher, writes "Many previously reported characteristics associated with religiosity are a function not of belief itself, but of strong convictions and group identification."

Prejudice in the United States
Legal and social discrimination against atheists in some places may lead some to deny or conceal their atheism due to fears of persecution. A 2006 study by researchers at the University of Minnesota involving a poll of 2,000 households in the United States found atheists to be the most distrusted of minorities, more so than Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians, and other groups. Many of the respondents associated atheism with immorality, including criminal behaviour, extreme materialism, and elitism. However, the same study also reported that, “The researchers also found acceptance or rejection of atheists is related not only to personal religiosity, but also to one’s exposure to diversity, education and political orientation—with more educated, East and West Coast Americans more accepting of atheists than their Midwestern counterparts.”

Geographic distribution
Though atheists are in the minority in most countries, they are relatively common in Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, in former and present communist states, and to a lesser extent, in the United States (especially in New England) and the Southern Cone. A 2012 Pew Research study found 16 percent of the global population to be unaffiliated with a religion. It is difficult to determine actual atheist numbers. What is certain is that in some areas of the world (such as Europe and South America) atheism and secularization are increasing, and in other areas of the world (such as former Communist states like Russia), atheism is decreasing. This shifting data of these populations makes assessment difficult. Furthermore, the conflation of terms such as atheist, agnostic, non-religious and non-theist add to confusion among poll data.

A 2002 survey by Adherents.com, which estimates the proportion of the world's people who are "secular, non-religious, agnostics and atheists" at about 14%. A 2004 survey by the BBC in 10 countries showed the proportion of the population "who don't believe in God" varying between 0% (Nigeria) and 39% (UK), with an average close to 17% in the countries surveyed. About 8% of the respondents stated specifically that they consider themselves to be atheists. 65% of those polled in a 2011 survey by the British Humanist Association answered no to the question "Are you religious?". A 2004 survey by the CIA in the World Factbook estimates about 12.5% of the world's population are non-religious, and about 2.4% are atheists. A 2012 survey by the Pew Research Center showed that in the United States, one third of people under 30, 21% of people between the ages of 30-49, 15% of people between the ages of 50-64 and 9% of people over the age of 65 could be characterized as religiously unaffiliated. A 2013 poll by UPI/Harris showed that three-quarters of U.S. adults say they believe in God, down from 82 percent in 2005, 2007 and 2009, a Harris Poll indicates. Just under 2-in-10 U.S. adults described themselves as very religious, with an additional 4-in-10 describing themselves as somewhat religious down from 49 percent in 2007. Twenty-three percent of Americans identified themselves as not at all religious, nearly double the 12 percent reported in 2007. A 2005 poll by AP/Ipsos surveyed ten countries. Of the developed nations, people in the United States were most sure of the existence of God or a higher power (2% atheist, 4% agnostic), while France had the most skeptics (19% atheist, 16% agnostic). On the religion question, South Korea had the greatest percentage without a religion (41%) while Italy had the smallest (5%).

Among the members of the National Academy of Sciences, 7% believed in God, 72.2% did not, and 20.8% were agnostic or had doubts. The study performed has been criticized, however, for defining God as "a God one may pray to in expectation of receiving an answer." In 1916, 1,000 leading American scientists were randomly chosen from American Men of Science and 41.8% believed God existed, 41.5% disbelieved, and 16.7% had doubts/did not know; however when the study was replicated 80 years later using American Men and Women of Science in 1996, results were very much the same with 39.3% believing God exists, 45.3% disbelieved, and 14.5% had doubts/did not know. However, these studies have been criticized for leaving lots of room for ambiguity in the questions.

Canada
The exact number of atheists in Canada is disputed. (See the section "Statistical problems" above) The Canadian Ipsos Reid poll released September 12, 2011 entitled "Canadians Split On Whether Religion Does More Harm in the World than Good," sampled 1,129 Canadian adults and came up 30% who do not believe in a god. Interestingly, the same poll found that of the 33% of respondents who identified themselves as Catholics and Protestants, 28% said they didn't believe in a god.

An older poll shows 19–30% of the population holding an atheistic or agnostic viewpoint. The 2001 Canadian Census states that 16.2% of the population holds no religious affiliation, though exact statistics on atheism are not recorded. In urban centers this figure can be substantially higher; the 2001 census indicated that 42.2% of residents in Vancouver hold "no religious affiliation." A recent survey in 2008 found that 23% of Canadians said they did not believe in a god. The numbers do seem to suggest that the numbers of people in Canada who believe in a deity are dropping at a significant rate.

In a Pew Research Poll in 2013, it is estimated about 24%, consider themselves 'religiously unaffiliated.' Notably, the younger generation (those born between 1987 and 1995) are ranked at 29%.

Mexico
Separation of church and state is guaranteed by Article 130 of the Mexican Constitution, which also designates religious leaders as ineligible for public office, while the majority of the population identifies as Roman Catholic (82%).

Although the demographics of atheism and irreligion in Mexico is hard to measure because many atheists are officially counted as Catholic, almost three million people in the 2000 National Census reported having no religion. Recent surveys have shown that only around 3% of Catholics attend church daily and, according to INEGI, the number of atheists grows annually by 5.2%, while the number of Catholics grows by 1.7%. The 2010 Mexican census by the INEGI shows that 4.9% of Mexicans have no religion, up from 0.6% in 1960 and 3.5% in 2000.

United States
According to a 2011 Gallup poll, more than 9 in 10 Americans say "yes" when asked the basic question "Do you believe in God?"; this is down only slightly from the 1940s, when Gallup first asked this question. However, when given the choice to express uncertainties, the percentage of belief in God drops into the 70% to 80% range. When Americans are given the option of saying they believe in a universal spirit or higher power instead of in "God," about 12% choose the former.

A 2004 BBC poll showed the number of people in the U.S. who don't believe in a god to be about 9–10%. A 2008 Gallup poll showed that a smaller 6% of the U.S. population believed that no god or universal spirit exists. The most recent ARIS report, released March 9, 2009, found in 2008, 34.2 million Americans (15.0%) claim no religion, of which 1.6% explicitly describes itself as atheist (0.7%) or agnostic (0.9%), nearly double the previous 2001 ARIS survey figure of 0.9%. The highest occurrence of "nones", according to the 2008 ARIS report, reside in Vermont, with 34% surveyed. According to the Pew Forum, less than 2% of the U.S. population describes itself as atheist.

Overall, Americans who profess no religion or self-identify as atheist or agnostic are more likely to be white or Asian and less likely to be black or Hispanic, as compared to the general adult population in U.S. Men are more likely to be atheists and less religious than women. 55 percent of atheists in America are under age 35, while 30 percent are 50 and over (compared to 37 percent of the total population). As a group, agnostics are older than atheists, though still younger than the general population.

A 2012 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reports that just 6% of the US population are atheists even though the number of religiously unaffiliated has grown from 15% to just under 20%.

South America
Irreligion in South America had increased for a period of 30 straight years, and it had a growing status in all countries in the first decade of the 21st century.
 * Uruguay – 17.2% atheist or agnostic; 23.2% "believing in God but without religion"
 * Argentina – 11.3% "indifferent towards religion" (including agnostic and atheists)
 * Chile – 11.58% non-religious
 * Ecuador – 7.94% atheist and 0.11% agnostic
 * Brazil – 8.0% non-religious
 * Colombia – 3% atheists, 12% atheists or agnostics
 * Peru – 1.4% non-religious as of 1993
 * Paraguay – 1.1% non-religious
 * Venezuela – < 8%

Brazil
In Brazil, non religious people rose from about 4% in the end of the 20th century to around 8% in the most recent reliable census and recent estimates put it in 10–14% of the population, being the 2nd largest group after Christianity. According to recent researches, Brazilians who profess no religion or self-identify as atheist or agnostic are more likely to be white Brazilian, Amerindian or Asian and less likely to be Afro-Brazilian or Pardo when compared to the general population.

There is evidence that the atheist minority is more likely to suffer prejudice than other groups: when asked for presidential candidates, in spite of major forms of racism, historical prejudices and racist-based classism against black people in the country, 83% of Brazilians would vote for an Afro-Brazilian; even with major forms of sexism present in Latin American societies (see machismo) 57% of Brazilians would vote for a woman president (the first one in the country's history is the present Dilma Roussef, elected in late 2010), and the historical homophobia (hate crimes practiced both by homophobic macho vigilantes and far-right skinheads as well, the latter widely common in White-majority Southern Brazil and São Paulo, for example) and major, widespread forms of heterosexism due also to the sexist machismo culture, 37% of Brazilians would vote for a gay candidate. Nevertheless, only 13% of Brazilians would vote for an atheist person to occupy the post of president without judging the candidate because of the candidate's religion. 6 in 10 Brazilians would not vote for an atheist president. A 2009 survey showed that atheists are the most hated demographic group in Brazil, among several other minorities polled, being almost on par with drug addicts. According to the research, 17% of the interviewees stated they feel either hate or repulse for atheists, while 25% feel antipathy and 29% are indifferent.

As happens with Brazilians of sexual minorities and/or members of traditional African diasporic religions — Umbanda, Candomblé and Quimbanda, collectively called Macumba, nowadays a pejorative term — or Spiritism, affiliation to some of the new rising Protestant churches in Brazil (mostly Evangelical or Pentecostal) can lead to even more negative social perceptions of atheist and irreligious people. Some critics present the widespread vision that Protestants are far less secularized, more intolerant and socially conservative than the Roman Catholic church as classist prejudice, an institution as large in Brazil as racism and sexism, although still not questioning that Catholic Brazilians are more tolerant and socially liberal.

East Asia
East Asian cultures define religion differently from those in the West, making classification of certain adherents of Buddhism and Taoism particularly difficult, as belief in gods is generally absent in principle in these schools of thought except in syncretic outliers to the mainstreams of the belief system. Japan can be especially confusing, with most of the population incorporating practices from multiple religions into their lives (see Religion in Japan). In the People's Republic of China, 59% of the population claim to be non-religious. However, this percentage may be significantly greater (up to 80%) or smaller (down to 30%) in reality, because some Chinese define religion differently. Some Chinese define religion as practicing customs (which may be done for cultural or traditional reasons), while others define it as actually consciously believing their religion will lead to post-mortem salvation/reincarnation. According to the surveys of Phil Zuckerman on Adherents.com in 1993, 59% (over 700 million) of the Chinese population was irreligious and 8% – 14% was atheist (from over 100 to 180 million) as of 2005. (see Religion in China). Officially, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an atheist state, as declared by its Communist regime. Census results record 81% percent nonbelief (2009) although this may be inflated because of Vietnam's official status as an atheist nation, or that many reported as "non-believers" in formal religions still have some adherence to informal religious customs and practices such as ancestor worship, or to non-State sanctioned Buddhist temples or Christian churches.

Israel
In Israel, around 50% of Israelis who were born ethnically Jewish consider themselves "secular" or hilonim, some of them still keep certain religious traditions for cultural reasons, but most are immersed within the secular Jewish culture. The number of atheists and agnostics is lower, and it stands at 15% to 37% respectively. The 2009 Avi-Chai study found 77% of Israeli Jews believe in a "higher power", while 46% define themselves as secular, of which 8% define themselves as "anti-religious". Conversely, the Fridman report for 2007 found that less than 20% define themselves as secular—and only 5% as anti-religious.

Europe
According to a 2010 Eurostat Eurobarometer poll, 51% of European Union citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", whereas 26% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 20% that "they do not believe there is a spirit, God, nor life force". Results were widely varied between different countries, with 94% of Maltese respondents stating that they believe in God, on the one end, and only 16% of Czechs stating the same on the other.



Czech Republic
In 2001, the Czech Statistical Office provided census information on the ten million people in the Czech Republic. 59% had no religion, 32.2% were religious, and 8.8% did not answer. Next census in 2011 provided following figures: 34.2% not religious, 20.6% religious and 45.2% no answer.

France
In France, about 12% of the population reportedly attends religious services more than once per month. In a 2003 poll 54% of those polled in France identified themselves as "faithful," 33% as atheist, 14% as agnostic, and 26% as "indifferent." According to a different poll, 32% declared themselves atheists, and an additional 32% declared themselves agnostic.

Germany
Konfessionen-in-Deutschland.svg in the states of Germany.Majority of population is: {{legend|#445016|member of the Roman Catholic church}} {{legend|#782121|member of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)}} {{legend|#89a02c|either member of the Roman Catholic church or the EKD with Roman Catholic the largest}} {{legend|#c83737|either member of the Roman Catholic church or the EKD with EKD the largest}}

{{legend|#ffaaaa|mainly not religious, largest Christian minority is EKD}} ]]

Eastern Germany is perhaps the least religious region in the world. Atheism is embraced by young and old, though even more so by younger Germans. One study in September 2012 was unable to find a single person under 28 who believed in a god. The popular explanation for this is the aggressive atheist policies of German Democratic Republic's Socialist Unity Party of Germany. However, the enforcement of atheism only existed for the first few years. After that, the state allowed churches to have a relatively high level of autonomy. Also, the same high numbers of atheists don't exist in the other European countries that have a history of Soviet occupation, except for the Czech Republic and Estonia. Another explanation could be the secular movements during the Weimar Republic which were strongest in the states of Thuringia and Saxony. Also, it was the Protestant areas of the Eastern Bloc that tended to turn irreligious under Communist rule the most. The most atheist parts of the former Soviet bloc were usually once the most Protestant (East Germany, Estonia, and most of Latvia), and the Czech Republic is the only one that was once mainly Catholic (although having the largest Protestant share following the above three).

Christianity still has a notable presence in the rest of Germany, though far less than in America. There is an atheist majority in Hamburg.

Norway
A 2006 survey in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten (on February 17), saw 1,006 inhabitants of Norway answering the question "What do you believe in?". 29% answered "I believe in a god or deity", 23% answered "I believe in a higher power without being certain of what", 26% answered "I don't believe in God or higher powers" and 22% answered "I am in doubt". Still,, 78% of the population are members of the Norwegian state's official Lutheran Protestant church. All Norwegians with at least one parent who is a member are automatically registered as members at birth, so the vast majority of the members have done nothing actively to join, effectively creating an opt-out system where membership is not considered a serious statement of faith in Christianity, and one where many keep themselves enrolled for the sake of possibly wanting to have a ceremony in the church at some point in their life, without this necessarily implying belief.

Russia
According to a surveys of Levada Center, 22% of those surveyed self-described as non-religious, agnostic or atheist, with 69% describing themselves as Orthodox (and 5% Muslims) in Russia. Although just 10% regularly (at least once a month) attend church, the fact that there has been a substantial increase in the Orthodox proportion of the population, along with the fact that those who identify themselves Christian are more likely to go to church, suggests that atheism and irreligion has greatly waned in Russia since the Soviet collapse.

Spain
In Spain, 73.6% are believers (catholic and others), 16.5% are non-believers and 7.6% are atheists (according to the February 2013 poll of the public Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas).

Sweden
Several studies have found Sweden to be one of the most atheist countries in the world. 23% of Swedish citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", whereas 53% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 23% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force". This, according to the survey, would make Swedes the third least religious people in the 27-member European Union, after Estonia and the Czech Republic.

Switzerland
According to a study carried out by doctor in political science Simon Geissbühler, Swiss atheists tend to be more left-leaning, even accounting for age and income, than the average Swiss population.

United Kingdom
A poll in 2004 by the BBC put the number of people who do not believe in a God at 39%, while a YouGov poll in the same year put the percentage of non-believers at 35% with 21% answering "Don't Know". In the YouGov poll men were less likely to believe in a god than women, 39% of men and 49% of women, and younger people were less likely to believe in a god than older people. In early 2004, it was announced that atheism would be taught during religious education classes in England. A compilation of some sociological studies indicates that roughly 30-40% of the British population does not have a belief in God and only 8% self identify as convinced atheist.

Oceania
In the Australian 2011 Census of Population and Housing, in the question which asked "What is the person's religion?" 22.3% reported "no religion", which is a growth of 7% since the 2001 Census. This question was optional and 9.4% did not answer the question. There are often popular and successful campaigns to have people describe themselves as non-mainstream religions (e.g. Jedi).

In 2006, the New Zealand census asked, "What is your religion?" 34.7% of those answering indicated no religion. 12.2% did not respond or objected to answering the question. The New Zealand Atheist Bus Campaign of 2009 is largely regarded as one of the most successful atheist campaigns of all time.

Egypt
The true number of atheists in Egypt is unknown as they are not counted on the census but atheists communicate with each other via the internet.

Ghana
Atheism in Ghana is difficult to measure in the country, as many citizens claim Christian faith. Many Atheists in Ghana are afraid to openly express their beliefs due to real or imagined threats of intimidation.

In the Ghana census taken in 2010, Christians make up 71.2% of the population, Islam 17.6%, Irreligion 5.3%, Traditional religion 5.2%. Other faiths include Hinduism, Buddhism and Nichiren Buddhism, Taoism, Sōka Gakkai, Shintoism and Judaism.