A new twist to red state / blue state – let’s go international. What are the countries with the highest atheist population? Atheists are people who don’t believe in God. They are not members of any religion and they usually don’t believe in superstition. Through history people who didn’t believe in God were treated as ‘’devils worshipers’’. However, today they are widely accepted and choosing the religion or accepting one does not have any effect on one’s social life. You can see where there are the most atheists. You can check the countries with the highest Mormon population as well.
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According to the Worldwide Independent Network, 63% of the world’s population is religious. On the other side, between 11 and 13% are atheists and 22% are not religious. You should know that there is a difference between people who consider themselves atheists and non-religious people. Non-religious people, simply don’t follow any rules or guides of a religion, but they may believe in God. Atheists have a lack of belief in religion and God altogether.
American Atheists claim that atheism isn’t a religion nor is it a belief system. The most common mistake is that atheism is treated as a belief system. It never was and it will never be that. Usually, the most ‘’severe’’ debates are between atheists themselves. This is because they disagree on many ideas and common beliefs. Also, atheists tend to not try to convince people to become atheists.
The population of atheists across the planet depends largely on the prevalent religion of a country, the number of believers and the number of non-religious people. That’s why it is very hard to find countries with a high atheist population. However, we managed to do this. We used the map found at the Washington Post and the data from the latest survey, conducted by the WIN Gallup International found at Patheos. In order to calculate the number of atheists in every country, we needed the population numbers. We used Wikipedia for this.
11. Israel
The population of atheists is 3.028.320 (36%).
The biggest part of the population is Jewish. This applies to people who are born in the country. However, there is a small percentage of those who are anti-religious.
10. Hong Kong
The population of atheists is 3.795.272 (52%).
Although, Hong Kong has a population of 7.298.600, a high percentage is non-religious or they are atheists. Some survey even found that the percentage of atheists can reach 90%.
9. Sweden
The population of atheists is 4.515.666 (46%).
Sweden is well-known as mostly non-religious country. In fact, several studies found that it has a high percentage of atheists. Also, a lot of people don’t believe that there is a ‘’life force’’.
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8. Czech Republic
The population of atheists is 5.479.666 (52%).
The country noticed a decrease of religious people. Also, a lot of people refuse to answer are they religious or not. In the future, we can expect that the number of religious people will be lower.
7. Netherlands
The population of atheists is 6.769.320 (40%).
Until the 20th century, Christianity was widely accepted. Since then, more and more people became atheists so we can expect the number of atheists in the country will be increased in the future. Even now, the Netherlands are one of countries with the highest atheist population.
6. United Kingdom
The population of atheists is 25.920.000 (40%).
In the country, more women than men are atheists. Also, elderly people are usually believers, but younger people are atheist or non-religious. There are some people who simply don’t know what they are or they weren’t interested to reveal their religion.
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5. France
The population of atheists is 27.505.670 (41%).
France has a high number of atheists and agnostics. In most studies, the country is always in the first 10, for highest atheists and agnostics population.
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4. Vietnam
The population of atheists is 30.837.840 (33%).
Vietnam is well-known as an atheist nation. People in the country commonly worship ancestors, which makes this country unique and different from other countries in the area.
3. Germany
The population of atheists is 30.855.050 (38%).
The East Germany had the biggest population of non-religious people. Now, the number of religious people is increasing. An interesting fact is that there are more atheists than religious people in Hamburg.
2. Japan
The population of atheists is 58.342.720 (46%).
Japan is a very complicated country, because a lot of people combine more than just one religion. Also, they don’t understand nor follow the rules of a religion.
1. China
The population of atheists is 1.029.390.000 (75%).
China has the biggest population in the world. So, it isn’t a coincidence that it has always been one of the countries with the highest atheist population. In some areas, 90% of the local population are atheists. The country also has a very high number of non-religious people and low number of believers.
