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Irreligion

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"Irreligious" redirects here. For the album by Moonspell, see Irreligious (album).
Not to be confused with secularity.
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Irreligion (adjective form: nonreligious or irreligious) is the absence of religion, an indifference towards religion, a rejection of religion, or hostility towards religion.[1] When characterized as the rejection of religious belief, it includes atheism and secular humanism. When characterized as hostility towards religion, it includes antitheism, anticlericalism and antireligion. When characterized as indifference to religion, it includes apatheism. When characterized as the absence of religious belief, it may also include agnosticism, ignosticism, nontheism, religious skepticism and freethought. Irreligion may even include forms of theism depending on the religious context it is defined against, as in 18th century Europe where the epitome of irreligion was deism.[2]

It has been estimated that 16% of the world population (1.1 billion people) are "non-religious", including agnostics, atheists, secular humanists, and people who answer "none" or "no religious preference" when asked an open-ended question about their religious preference.[3] A 2012 survey found that 36% of the world population is not religious (including atheists) and that between 2005 and 2012 world religiosity decreased by 9%.[4] According to one source, it has been estimated that 40–50% of non-religious people hold belief in at least one deity, or in some higher power.[5]

Demographics

Gallup Religiosity Index 2009 (light color indicates religious, dark nonreligious)[6]
Main article: Irreligion by country

The tables below order the percentage of a countries population that are nonreligious from highest to lowest.

Template:Multicol

Country Percentage of population
that is nonreligious (2006) 		Source
 Sweden 46-85 (average of 65.5) [7]
 Czech Republic 64.3 [8]
 Vietnam 46.1-81 (average of 63.55) [8][7]
 Denmark 43-80 (average of 61.5) [7]
 Albania 60 [9][10][11]
 United Kingdom 39-65 (average of 52)
[12]
 Japan 51.8 [8]
 Azerbaijan 51 [13]
 China 8-93 (average of 50.5) [8][7][14]
 Estonia 49 [7]
 France 43-54 (average of 48.5) [7]
 Russia 48.1 [8]
 Belarus 47.8 [8]
 Finland 28–60 (average of 44) [7]
 Hungary 42.6 [8]
 Ukraine 42.4 [8]
 Netherlands 39-44 (average of 41.5) [7][15]
 Latvia 40.6 [8]
 South Korea 36.4 [8]
 Belgium 35.4 [8]
 New Zealand 34.7
(from 87.3% who answered the optional question) 		[16]
 Germany 34.6 [17]
 Chile 33.8 [8]
 Luxembourg 29.9 [8]
 Slovenia 29.9 [8]
 Venezuela 27.0 [8]
 Spain 23.3 [18]
 Slovakia 23.1 [8]
 Australia 22.3
[19]

Template:Multicol-break

Country Percentage of population
that is nonreligious (2006) 		Source
 Mexico 20.5 [8]
 United States 19.6 [20]
 Lithuania 19.4 [8]
 Italy 17.8 [8]
 Canada 16.2 [21]
 Argentina 16.0 [22]
 South Africa 15.1 [23]
 Croatia 13.2 [8]
 Austria 12.2 [8]
 Portugal 11.4 [8]
 Puerto Rico 11.1 [8]
 Bulgaria 11.1 [8]
 Philippines 10.9 [8]
 Brazil 8.0 [24]
 Ireland 7.0 [25]
 India 6.6 [8]
 Serbia 5.8 [8]
 Peru 4.7 [8]
 Poland 4.6 [8]
 Iceland 4.3 [8]
 Greece 4.0 [8]
 Turkey 2.5 [8]
 Romania 2.4 [8]
 Tanzania 1.7 [8]
 Malta 1.3 [8]
 Iran 1.1 [8]
 Uganda 1.1 [8]
 Nigeria 0.7 [8]
 Bangladesh 0.1 [8]

Template:Multicol-end Although 10 countries listed above have non-religious majorities, it does not mean that majority of the populations of these countries don′t belong to any religious group. For example, 70% of the Swedish population belongs to Lutheran Christian Church, while 56.7% of Albanians declare themselves as Muslims.

See also

References

  1. ^
    • "Irreligion as presented in 26 reference works".
    • "Definition including hostility and indifference", Compact Oxford Dictionary
    • "Definition including lack and indifference", Collins Dictionary
    • "Irreligion", Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, retrieved 2012-02-18 Includes rejection.
    • Colin Campbell, "Irreligion", Encyclopedia of Religion and Society, retrieved 2012-02-18
  2. ^ Campbell, Colin. 1971. Towards a Sociology of Irreligion. London:McMillan p. 31.
  3. ^ "The Global Religious Landscape - Religiously Unaffiliated". Pew Research Center.
  4. ^ "Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism" (PDF). WIN-Gallup International. 27 July 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  5. ^ "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents". Adherents.com. 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  6. ^ The Religiosity Index is a measure of the importance of religion for respondents and their self-reported attendance of religious services. For religions in which attendance at services is limited, care must be used in interpreting the data. (Gallup WorldView)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", from the Cambridge Companion to Atheism, edited by Michael Martin, University of Cambridge Press, 2007
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am Dentsu Communication Institute Inc., Research Centre for Japan (2006)Template:Ja icon
  9. ^ "Albania". State.gov. 2006-09-15. Retrieved 2011-02-04. US Department of State - International religious freedom report 2006
  10. ^ L'Albanie en 2005
  11. ^ "Adherents.com". Adherents.com. Retrieved 2011-02-04. Some publications
  12. ^ UK National Statistics Bureau (2011 census)
  13. ^ "Global Index Of Religion and Atheism" (PDF). Redcresearch.ie. Retrieved 2011-11-01. Publications are taken from Gallup
  14. ^ "Adherents.com". Adherents.com. Retrieved 2011-02-04. Some publications
  15. ^ CBS StatLine, Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Retrieved 2012-06-25
  16. ^ Statistics New Zealand (2006 census)[dead link]
  17. ^ "fowid - Forschungsgruppe Weltanschauungen in Deutschland: Home". Fowid.de. Retrieved 2011-09-12. German Worldview Research Group (2010)
  18. ^ [1] Socialogical Research Centre, January 2012
  19. ^ "Census shows result of mining boom, with increased cost of housing and higher wages", PIA AKERMAN, The Australian, 21 June 2012.
  20. ^ “Nones” on the Rise
  21. ^ "96F0030XIE2001015 - Religions in Canada". 2.statcan.ca. Retrieved 2011-02-04. Canada 2001 census
  22. ^ "Table Of Statistics On Religion In The Americas". Prolades.com. Retrieved 2011-02-04. Gallup-Argentina survey, April 2001
  23. ^ [2][dead link] Güney Afrika 2001 census
  24. ^ "Census 2010; Sistema IBGE de Recuperação Automática SIDRA". Retrieved September 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  25. ^ "This is Ireland. Highlights from Census 2011, Part 1" (PDF). March 2012. Retrieved April 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

Further reading

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