Irreligion
Irreligion, irreligiousness, or nonreligion is an umbrella term which, depending on context, may be understood as referring to atheism, agnosticism, deism, skepticism, freethought, secular humanism, general secularism, or heresy.
Irreligion has at least three related yet distinct meanings:
- absence of religion (either due to not having information about religion or to not believing in it)
- hostility to religion
- behaving in such a way that fails to live up to one's religious tenets
Although people classified as irreligious might not follow any religion, not all are necessarily without belief in the supernatural or in deities; such a person may be a non-religious or non-practicing theist. In particular, those who associate organized religion with negative qualities, but still hold spiritual beliefs, might describe themselves as irreligious.
Statistics by country
| Country | Percentage stating they have no religion | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 46%-85% | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005). - [1] |
| China | 59-71% (officially atheist) | Various publications - [2] |
| Albania | 60%-75% | US Department of State - International Religious Freedom Report 2006 - [3] |
| Czech Republic | 59% (plus additional 8% did not fill in anything) | Czech Statistical Office (2001 census) [6] |
| Japan | 51.8% | Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2000) |
| Russia | 48.1% | Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2000) |
| The Netherlands | 44.0% | (SCP) [9] |
| South Korea | 36.4% | Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2000) |
| New Zealand | 34.7% (of the 87.3% who answered an optional question) | Statistics New Zealand (2006 census) [11] |
| Germany | 32.7% | fowid (German Worldview Research Group) (2004) [12] |
| France | 27.2% (23.9% of women, 30.6% of men) | INSEE (2004 survey) [13] |
| Australia | 17.5% (of the 88.3% who answered an optional question) | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2001 census) [14] |
| United Kingdom | 16.8% (of the 92.7% who answered an optional question) | UK National Statistics (2001 census) [15] |
| Canada | 16.2% | Canada 2001 Census [16] |
| South Africa | 15.1% | Statistics South Africa Census 2001[17] |
| United States | 15.0% (of the 94.6% who answered an optional question, out of a sample of 50,281 households in the 48 contiguous states) | American Religious Identification Survey (2001), as reported by US Census Bureau [18] |
| India | 6.6% | Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2000) |
| Ireland | 4.5% (plus additional 1.7% did not state a religion) | Central Statistics Office Ireland Census 2006, Final Principal Demographic Results 2006 |
| Iran | 1.1% (Atheism and Agnosticism are illegal) | Dentsu Communication Institute Inc, Japan Research Center (2000) |