China has the highest percentage of atheists in the world. The most "unbelieving" countries in the world

The statistics of believers demonstrates the ambiguous attitude of people towards religious canons, the fulfillment of which is required by a particular denomination.

As the statistics of believers show, most of the world's population is adherents of a particular religion. However, people who identify themselves with one or another belief do not always strive to perform the prescribed rituals.

Believers in Russia

According to the Russian Orthodox Church, 80% of Orthodox believers in Russia. Today, faith in God has become fashionable and is actively promoted at the highest level. At the same time, not everyone has an understanding of what it means to classify oneself as a member of the church. Rather, it is the installation of an equal sign between the concept of Russian and Orthodox.

In the USSR, state policy was aimed at eradicating "remnants of the past." Atheism was actively planted in schools, schoolchildren tried to convey to their believing grandmothers the foundations of materialism. The eradication of Orthodox traditions could not pass without leaving a trace. When the people received not only permission, but also recommendations for faith in God, it turned out that few people know how to do it.

The statistics of believers in Russia show that out of 80% of people who have declared themselves Orthodox, only 18–20% go to confession and communion 1 to 2 times a year. The rest come on Easter to bless Easter cakes and sometimes run into the church for personal needs. It is possible to determine how many believers in Russia are not by surveys of involvement in the faith, but by the number of people who observe fasting, celebrate church holidays, read the Bible, and know prayers. The number of people who visited the church on Easter by year:

Signs of believers:

• regular temple attendance (several times a week);
• fulfillment of church rules (fasts, prayers);
• communication with clergy.

There are no official statistics of such people, but according to approximate estimates, they are no more than 1%. Considering how many believers there are in Russia, the statistics cannot bypass the representatives of Islam. Russia is currently inhabited by approximately 18-21 million Muslims (14%). According to the 2010 census, there were 15 million of them.

As in Orthodoxy, not every Muslim follows the prescriptions of religion, from halal food to five daily prayers. Religious holidays allow people who identify with their faith to express their attitude towards religion. On June 25, 2017, 250,000 Muslims came to pray on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr in Moscow.

Believers and atheists

The religiosity of the population is largely connected with the traditions of the state. If the country went through a period of persecution of believers, then atheism was fed in the form of derogatory assessments of the mental abilities of believers. In the Soviet Union, religious people were considered backward, "dark", poorly educated. Now this position has changed, although some scholars equate religiosity with a lack of education.

However, there is a difference between belonging to a religion and believing in God. Some religions, such as Buddhism, do not consider the existence of a higher being at all. People can believe in otherworldly forces, witches and sorcerers, fairy-tale characters, energy flows, and at the same time not consider themselves believers. On the other hand, Orthodox Christians often turn to pagan rites and rituals (fortune-telling).

Distribution of religions in the world

According to Wikipedia for 2010, the distribution of believers by confession is as follows:

• Christians make up about 33% of all believers. These include Catholics, Protestant believers (Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals), Orthodox (15 autocephalous (local churches)), believers of pre-Chalcedonian churches (ancient Eastern churches). Additionally, representatives of non-canonical churches, as well as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are taken into account;
• Muslims - 23% (Sunnis, Shiites, Islamic schismatics);
• Hindus - 14-15%;
• Buddhists - 7%;
• Jews and representatives of ethnic religions - about 22%.

The number of believers by religion puts Christianity, Islam and Hinduism among the most widespread denominations in the world. However, not all believers in Jesus Christ know that the system of religion, both Christians and Jews, is built according to the Bible. The difference is that Judaism takes the Old Testament (Torah) as its basis, while Christians take the New Testament (Gospel). The diagram shows the distribution of believers by religion and how many atheists there are in the world:

Today, politicians in Russia are actively conducting indirect propaganda of Orthodoxy among the masses. The participation of the highest officials of the state in church holidays, the conversations of the head of state with the Patriarch and much more demonstrate not only a loyal attitude towards the church, but also mutual cooperation.

It is possible to explain where the “believing” politicians came from by the fact that in modern Russia it is difficult to formulate a national idea, which is the starting point for creating the standard behavior of a citizen of the country.

On the other hand, the Christian commandments, which form the qualities of a believer (“Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt not steal”), are capable of laying the framework of a young person’s personality. In the absence of Komsomol and pioneer statutes, religion is able to convey moral norms to the minds and hearts of citizens.

Religion and prisoners

Church ministers working in prisons know more about criminals than investigators, but the secrecy of confession imposes restrictions on them. Confession of believers in prisons and spiritual conversation defuse the heavy atmosphere in places of detention. According to the 2009-2010 census of convicts, the number of believers (Orthodox) in places of deprivation of liberty is 67%.

According to the statistics of believers in 2017, 4.3 million people in Russia visited churches on Easter. Distribution in some areas:

Religion and EU countries

It is rather difficult to determine how many believers there are in the world. The data varies depending on the survey methods. You can track some of the trends taking place in Europe. The data provided by the Catholic and Protestant Church on believers in Germany in 2011 indicates a decrease in the total number of adherents of religion from 64.5 to 61.5% over the previous five years. A New Humanist survey in 2010 showed that the number of believers in England has decreased by 20% in 30 years. Today, half of Britons do not identify themselves with any of the confessions.

Religion and the army

Attitudes towards military service among Christians are ambiguous. There are young people who prefer alternative ways of doing military service. Others believe that a strong army can prevent the outbreak of conflicts. All believers in the army consider war to be evil, and whether or not to take up arms, everyone decides for himself.

Mankind is turning away from God - in recent years, 9% of earthlings have broken with religion. This is due to global democratic processes and numerous scandals that have undermined the reputation of churches, writes Natalia Mechetnaya in issue #33 of the magazine Correspondent dated August 24, 2012.

Colin Ralph, a 65-year-old Irishman, recalls that even a few decades ago, in his homeland, regular and frequent church visits were an integral part of the lives of both children and adults. Now they live like this only in rural areas.

“People are so busy and involved in modern life that the need for religion has decreased,” Ralph says Correspondent that the Church is increasingly losing its authority.

Irish society is indeed experiencing a rapid decline in the number of believers. According to the latest data from the international center for sociological research Gallup International Association, in the country in 2005 there were 69% of believers, in 2012 they already became 47%, that is, 22% less.

More than half of the world's inhabitants, namely 59%, consider themselves religious people, 23% said that they are not religious, and 13% called themselves convinced atheists.

The world is moving away from religion towards atheism, sociologists of the Gallup International Association pass their verdict. The scope of their study is enormous: it covered 57 countries of the world, including about 70% of the world's population. More than half of the world's inhabitants, namely 59%, consider themselves religious people, 23% said that they are not religious, and 13% called themselves convinced atheists.

In general, the number of non-religious people in the world has increased by 9% over the past seven years, experts conclude.

The largest number of atheists, according to the Gallup International Association, lives in Asian countries. These are, first of all, China (47%), Japan (31%), as well as South Korea (15%). The leaders of European atheism were the Czech Republic (30%) and France (29%).

Overall, the top 5 countries with the highest percentage of people who identify as religious are Ghana (96%), Nigeria (93%), Armenia (92%), Fiji (92%) and Macedonia (90%).

Speaking about trends leading to a decrease in religiosity, experts note the fact that the more liberal the state, the lower the percentage of believers. “In today's secular democracies, there is a clear trend that people are becoming less likely to identify themselves as adherents of any religion,” says Richard Wiener of the Research Corporation in Arizona.

Crisis of Faith

The United States, where numerous priests with missions once came along with European colonists eager for new conquests, has always been considered a religious state. However, as the Gallup study showed, now America is gradually losing this status: over the past seven years, the number of believers in the country has decreased from 73% to 60%.

Like many economically successful world powers, today the United States is becoming less dependent on God and more reliant on its material goods, says Texas theologian Richard Patrick. Another factor in the transformation of the United States into a less religious state, he calls the penetration of the ideas of secularism into educational institutions. Historically in the United States, Christian ideas were the basis for most colleges and universities, but they were supplanted by the ideas of secular education.

Like many economically successful world powers, today the United States is becoming less dependent on God and more reliant on its material goods.

“Thus, the more educated our society is, the more we rely on man rather than God,” says Patrick.

Slightly slower than the United States, losing supporters of religion in Argentina. The country, located in Latin America, known for its Catholic traditions, has lost 8% of believers in seven years.

Juan Reche, Director of the Argentine Center for International Studies, also in conversation with Correspondent indicates that the country has become more agnostic. He attributes this to the development of democratic freedoms - never seen before in a state in which Catholicism was not just a religion, but part of a worldview.

“Today, on the issue of civil rights, Argentina is one of the most liberal countries in the world,” the analyst notes. "Our law allows homosexuals to marry and enforces gender equality."

Ioann Fedorinov, a Moscow priest and economist, believes that it is the West, which once abandoned Christianity, that continues to shape the modern thinking of civilization. Moreover, he acts not only through art or propaganda, but also in the undisguised form of monetary dictatorship.

Ioann Fedorinov, a Moscow priest and economist, believes that it is the West, which once departed from Christianity, that continues to shape the modern thinking of civilization

“If God came to earth again in the USA or Europe, then he would be kicked out, saying:“ We don’t need you, we have formed our own system of values, ”Fedorinov expresses his opinion Correspondent.

He emphasizes that there is still a God in Russia, but the forecasts are disappointing: in his opinion, politicians are behind the aggravation of the religious issue in Russian society, whose goal is to divert people from discussing political and economic problems. For example, at the hooligan trick of the female punk band Russy Riot, even the most famous representatives of the Russian political beau monde did not miss the opportunity to promote themselves.

In general, spirituality, Fedorinov believes, will steadily fall along with the stability of the economies in the world, as well as the growing mass of negativity in the media. The exception, in his opinion, will be only isolated and nationalized states - for example, Islamic and Jewish.

Wavy process

Despite the global downward trend in religiosity, respondents Correspondent analysts, make a reservation: this process may be temporary. In some countries, the loss of religiosity is probably caused by certain events, rather than global processes.

For example, the situation with a decrease in the number of believers in Ireland was significantly exacerbated by a high-profile scandal in 2009 related to sexual harassment of children committed by Catholic clergy in Dublin.

In some countries, the loss of religiosity is probably caused by certain events, rather than global processes.

The Irishman Ralph notes that, wanting to preserve the good name of the church, these egregious crimes were covered by other clergy, as well as some politicians. However, in the end, this shocked the public even more and sharply turned the Irish away from the church.

In the modern world, such scandals, thanks to the Internet, go global at lightning speed. Thus, the Irish events stirred up not only the country, but the entire Christian world. Publications exposing clerics began to appear one after another.

In particular, The New York Times conducted an investigation, revealing that even Pope Benedict XVI for many years hushed up the facts of sexual crimes among priests in the United States, in other words, covered up pedophiles.

Yet despite everything, atheists continue to be a tiny minority, emphasizes Viktor Yelensky, a Ukrainian religious scholar and president of the Religious Freedom Association. The expert recalls how in the 50-60s of the last century there was a public opinion that religion should, if not disappear, then at least leave the public sphere of life.

From the cover of the American magazine Time in 1966, readers were asked: Is God dead? This title was set in huge red letters.

“But in 1978, there were several events that changed our understanding of the role of religion in modern politics,” Yelensky notes. He names the Iranian revolution, which completely changed not only Iran, but the entire Islamic world.

In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a public opinion that religion should, if not disappear, then at least leave the public sphere of life.

Also significant was the accession to the papal throne of John Paul II, which marked a great Catholic upsurge. These same years saw an evangelical boom in the United States.

During the presidency of Jimmy Carter, religion began to play a large role in domestic and foreign policy, the expert says - since that time, American presidents have turned to religious ideas and symbols more often than their predecessors of the second half of the 20th century.

“At the beginning of the 21st century, no worldview can compete with religion,” Yelensky is convinced.

He also believes that Christianity today is not disappearing, but is shifting from the West to Africa and Latin America, and in these territories it is not as calm and stable as in the West, but expansive and offensive. It faces an equally expansive and aggressive Islam. And these Christian-Muslim relations can become a global drama of the 21st century, the expert notes, recalling that modern terror is inspired precisely by religious ideas.

It is difficult to argue with this, given that Ghana, which came out on top in the world in terms of the number of believers, is 70% Christian, 16% Muslim, and the rest are followers of traditional African cults. In Nigeria, which is in second place, the ratio of Christians and Muslims is even more explosive - approximately 50 to 50. By the way, religious conflicts do not subside in the country.

Yelensky would not unequivocally call China the locomotive of atheism, since, according to his observations, a spiritual upsurge is taking place there - especially beliefs associated with the home altar.

“It’s just that what the Chinese believe in is hard to catch with Western tools,” the analyst notes: Chinese who get jobs abroad cannot explain the essence of their beliefs and simply write that they do not belong to any religion.

At the beginning of the 21st century, no worldview can compete with religion

Moreover, today in communist China there are signs of the revival of Confucianism, which played the role of the main religion in the imperial Celestial Empire. In the city of Kufu, Shandong province, where in 551 BC. e. the philosopher Confucius was born, his birthday is becoming an increasingly significant holiday. State television began broadcasting the event live on the radio in 2004, and in 2007 local officials began to attend the event.

As for the USA, according to experts, reservations are possible here. For example, Ryan Cragoon, a sociologist of religion at the University of Tampa in Florida who studies global atheism, takes a critical look at the data showing the rise in the number of atheists in the United States. In his opinion, the point is that many people would simply like to identify themselves as atheists.

“For a long time, religiosity was a core feature of American identity,” notes Cragoon, adding that Americans no longer tend to identify primarily with religiosity, which was previously directly associated with integrity in the US.

Depart from God

Over the past decade, the number of believers in many countries has declined significantly

God help

The lower the standard of living in a country, the higher the percentage of believers among its population

Data from WIN-Gallup International, IMF

This material was published in issue 33 of the Korrespondent magazine of August 24, 2012. Reprinting of publications of the Korrespondent magazine in full is prohibited. The rules for using the materials of the Korrespondent magazine published on the Korrespondent.net website can be found .

To talk about such an indicator as the "religiosity" of the country, it is not enough just the number of believers and atheists. That is why the Gallup Institute of Public Opinion conducted a survey in 2015 in which they asked people: “Is religion an important part of your daily life?” Our list includes the 10 countries with the highest number of people who answered “no” to this question. As it turns out, many simply consider themselves believers just for show.

Uruguay - 59%

Russia - 60%

Vietnam - 69%

France - 69%

UK - 73%

Hong Kong - 74%

Japan - 75%

Denmark - 80%

Sweden - 82%

Estonia - 84%

The popularity of religions around the world is slowly but surely on the wane. For the first time in history, it was officially certified that there are more people in Norway who do not believe in God than those who do - 39 percent of atheists versus 37 percent of believers.

Studies have shown that in 2014 almost twice as many Americans as in 1980 said they do not believe in God, and five times fewer people pray. Researchers believe that society owes such a radical shift in religiosity to the generation of millennials.

The map below shows the countries with the most people who consider themselves "staunch atheists".

Yet, despite the world's downward trend in the number of believers, few countries have more than 20 percent of citizens who easily and completely reject the concept of divinity.

Here are six of the most atheistic countries in the world, not counting Norway:

1. China

Today, China has the highest percentage of any country in the world - more than half in fact - of convinced atheists. According to Win/Gallup, between 40 and 49.9 percent of Chinese say they don't consider themselves agnostic when it comes to belief in a higher power.

Communism, under which China's ruling party has ruled the country since 1949, sees religion as a means to oppress the proletariat.

Mao Zedong suppressed any religious movements during his 27-year reign until 1976. One of the country's oldest philosophical worldviews, Confucianism, is also notable for not emphasizing the belief in a supernatural deity.

2. Japan

China's neighbor is another one of the eastern countries with a large number of people, committed to the worldview, where there is no place for God.

Between 30 and 39 percent of people on the Japanese islands say they are "staunch atheists." In Japan, religion has historically been centered around Shintoism, which is not based on an all-seeing God, but on rituals and mythology that originate in the distant past of the country.

However, Shinto is spiritual and cannot be called an atheistic religion. In Japan, Shinto, like Buddhism, has seen a decline in followers in recent years.

3. Czech Republic

Perhaps it will come as a surprise to some, but third among the six least religious countries in the world is the Czech Republic, where 30 to 39 percent of citizens consider themselves atheists.

Weak support for traditional church religion may be a consequence of the strong nationalist movement in the Czech Republic during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Catholicism was considered a religion imposed by the Austrian invaders, and Protestantism never managed to take an important place in the hearts of most Czechs. Let us also note the communist past of the country, in which from 1948 to 1989 all religions were oppressed.

4. France

The Romantic homeland differs from many of its European neighbors in that at least one-fifth of its citizens claim to be "convinced atheists."

As in China, in France the state sought to reduce the power of religious institutions within its borders.

The French Revolution of 1789 overthrew Catholicism as the state religion, and in 1905 a law was passed that separated church from state.

In the UK, by contrast, the head of state - the Queen - is also the head of the Church.

5. Australia

Around 10 to 19 per cent of Australians say they are "staunch atheists". This is not surprising for a country with a strong tradition of secular government.

In just a few decades of the country's existence, the legal framework guaranteed religious equality for the colonists, who first arrived on the continent in 1788, overthrew the privileges of the Anglican Church.

Representatives of many other religions, including Jews and Muslims, attracted by new opportunities, arrived in Australia. Today, however, the number of Christians is steadily declining - and most identify themselves as atheists.

6. Iceland

In 1550, Catholicism was outlawed in this northern corner of Europe. The legal right to have religious freedom was enshrined in 1874.

Although many Icelanders consider themselves Lutherans, a small number follow folk religions, and the rest consider themselves "convinced atheists." This is only 19 percent of the country's population, but such a proportion entitles Iceland to be considered an atheist country.

Help: The Independent- a daily British newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly (Tony O "Reilly) and Independent News & Media" (Independent News & Media) since 1986. One of the youngest British newspapers with a readership of over 240 thousand people.

The religiosity index represents the percentage of the population who identify themselves as "religious" whether they visit places of worship or not, "non-religious" or a confirmed atheist.

Some interesting observations were made during the study:

1. Poor people are more religious than rich people. Low-income people are 17% more religious than high-income people.

2. Globally, the number of people identifying as religious fell by 9% from 2005 to 2011, while the number of people identifying as atheists increased by 3%.

3. Four countries experienced a drop in religiosity among the population, which increased by more than 20% between 2005 and 2012. In France and Switzerland, the number of religious people decreased by 21%, in Ireland by 22%, in Vietnam by 23%.

• Ghana - 96% religious

According to the 2000 census, Ghana is 68.8% Christian, 15.9% Muslim, followers of traditional cults 8.5%, others 0.7%.

• Nigeria - 93% religious

The majority of Nigerians are Muslims - more than 50%, Protestants - 33%, Catholics - 15%

• Armenia-92% religious

In religious terms, the majority of the believing population of Armenia (94%) are Christians.

• Fiji - 92% religious

Christians - 64.5%, Hindus - 27.9%, Muslims - 6.3%, Sikhs - 0.3%.

• Macedonia - 90% religious

Christians are the majority in the Republic of Macedonia (64.7%), Muslims make up 33.3% of the population.

• Romania - 89% religious

There is no official religion in Romania, but the vast majority of the population are Orthodox Christians - 86.8%.

• Iraq - 88% religious

The majority of the Iraqi population is Muslim. According to some sources, Shiites in Iraq represent 65% of the population, Sunnis - 35%

• Kenya - 88% religious

Religions in Kenya - Protestants 45%, Catholics 33%, Muslims 10%, Aboriginal cults 10%, other 2%.

• Peru - 86% religious

According to the 2007 census, the religions of Peru are Catholics 81.3%, Evangelicals 12.5%, others 3.3%.

• Brazil - 85% religious

According to the 2010 census, about 64% of the country's population are adherents of the Roman Catholic Church, about 22% of all residents profess Protestantism.

• Ireland - 10% atheists

Christianity is the dominant religion in Ireland.

• Australia - 10% atheists

Christianity is the predominant faith in Australia - 63.9% of the population. Religious minorities in Australia also practice Buddhism (2.1% of the population), Islam (1.7%), Hinduism (0.7%) and Judaism (0.4%). 2% percent of the population said they adhere to other religions.

• Iceland - 10% atheists

Main denomination Iceland- Christianity - 92.2% of the total population of the country.

• Austria - 10% atheists

Among religions in Austria the most common is Catholicism. According to the 2001 census, 73.6% of the country's population identified themselves as Catholics, 4.7% as Protestants (Lutherans)

• Holland - 14% atheists

Holland is a secular state with no state religion. However, there is freedom of religion in the country. Historically, the country is dominated by Christianity. 43.4% identify themselves as Christians.

• Germany - 15% atheists

The majority of Germans are Christians, making up 64% of the country's population.

• South Korea - 15% atheists

The main religions in South Korea are traditional Buddhism and relatively recently introduced Christianity.

• France - 29% atheists

Until recently, it was believed that France is the only country in the world where the absolute majority of the population are atheists (57%). The percentage of French atheists has decreased due to the flow of immigrants

• Czech Republic - 30% atheists

The Czech Republic is a traditionally Catholic country. But for 40 years of communism, the Czechs have become atheists.

• Japan - 31% atheists

Buddhists and Shintoists make up, according to some estimates, up to 84-96% of the population

• China - 47% atheists

The main religions in China are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism.

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