We recently compiled a list of the 25 Most Secular Countries in the World and in this article we will look at the most secular country.
Geographical Breakdown of Religiousness and Secularism
Religious affinity has different flavors, with culture and tradition being an important reason behind people undertaking religious practices. On average, Pew Research Center’s survey deduced that 54% of adults considered religion to hold a significant position in their lives. However, further data by Pew Research suggests that religious affinity is not geographically contiguous and continuous, with people living in Europe, North America, East Asia, and Australia being less religious. Countries in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Latin America are considered to be more religious. On average, Pew Research Center’s survey deduced that 54% of adults considered religion to hold a significant position in their lives. However, the geographical spectrum of religiousness and secularism is wide. In the Asia-Pacific region, China and Japan are the most secular countries, with 3% and 10% of individuals considering religion important in their lives, respectively. In contrast, around 90% of individuals in Muslim-majority countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Indonesia in the Asia-Pacific region consider religion to hold a prominent position in their lives.
Latin America has a similarly wide variation, with 90% of people in Honduras and 29% of people in Uruguay giving religion importance. Survey trends indicate that Central Americans are generally more religious, with secularism gaining popularity as one goes south towards Chile and Argentina and north towards Mexico. Going further north, 53% of residents of the USA considered religion important, while the statistics for Canada stood at 27%. This translates to Canada being twice as secular as the US. For further insights, you can look at 25 Most Religious States in the US.
Furthermore, Europe is generally more secular than other regions of the world, with only 23% of individuals giving religion importance on average in the region. Less than one in five individuals in Scandinavia, Western Europe, and the Baltics can be considered religious. However, almost 50% of the total residents of Romania, Georgia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina lie on the religious spectrum.
The sub-Saharan Africa region is, on average, quite opposite to Europe in this case, for the former has a regional average of 89% of individuals who consider religion important. Apart from South Africa and Botswana, all the countries in the region have an 80% or above percentage of religiously affiliated adults. Ethiopia ranks first in the category with a 98% rate, while Botswana ranks last with 71% of its residents giving religion importance. North Africa and the Middle East have similar levels of religious affinity and non-secularism. About 70% of residents of countries in this region give religion significance, with the exception of Israel and Lebanon, where levels of religious affinity stand at 36% and 57%, respectively.
Apart from geographical and regional differences, there are also gender-based differences in religious and secular beliefs. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, women considered religion more important than men in 36 out of the 84 countries surveyed. On average, women surpass men in religious commitment across the total countries surveyed by five percentage points. Israel and Mozambique are the only two countries where a higher percentage of men exhibit religious commitment than women.
Data by the Pew Research Center suggests that 28% of U.S. adults consider themselves religiously unaffiliated, meaning that they identify as atheists, agnostics, or “nothing in particular” when it comes to religious beliefs. 17% of these religiously unaffiliated individuals consider themselves atheists, while 20% and 63% identify themselves as agnostic and “nothing in particular”, respectively.
Data by the Pew Research Center suggests that there are varying degrees of governmental and societal restrictions on religion around the globe. As of 2021, four countries had the highest levels of both government restrictions on religion and social hostilities against religious groups, including Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Egypt.
Business in Secular Nations
Japan and Taiwan are two of the most secular countries in the world. Taiwan is a booming economy and the IMF expects it to grow its GDP by 3.1% to roughly $803 billion in 2024. The country is home to one of the biggest semiconductor companies Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM). On May 15 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) reported stellar earnings for the fiscal first quarter of 2024. The company reported an EPS of $1.38 and outperformed expectations by $0.06. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited’s (NYSE:TSM) revenue for the quarter amounted to $18.23 billion, up 9.7% year over year and ahead of market consensus by $224.73 million.
Japan, on the other hand, is expected to grow its GDP by 0.9% to $4.1 trillion by the end of 2024, as per estimates by the IMF. Japan’s economy is largely driven by its services sector and the country is home to one of the biggest financial services group’s in the world Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MUFG). On May 15, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MUFG) posted strong earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2024. The bank holding company generated a revenue of $7.18 billion, up 5.90% year over year, and beat expectations by $983.24 million. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MUFG) posted an EPS of $0.11 and outperformed EPS expectations by $0.05.
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Our Methodology
In order to compile a list of the 25 most secular countries in the world, we have considered the Government Restrictions Index (GRI) and Social Hostilities Index (SHI) in countries across the globe as of 2022 as our metrics, both sourced from the Pew Research Center. We computed their average, i.e. the Insider Monkey Score. For countries that had the same Insider Monkey Score, we have used the percentage of religiously unaffiliated people living in the country as of 2020 as a tie-breaking metric, again sourced from the Pew Research Center.
The 25 most secular countries in the world are arranged in descending order of their Insider Monkey Scores.
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The Most Secular Country in the World
1. Macau
Government Restrictions Index Score as of 2021: 0.4
Social Hostilities Index Score as of 2021: 0.0
Insider Monkey Score: 0.2
Percentage of Religiously Unaffiliated Individuals as of 2020: 15.4%
Macau is a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, and has a population of 695,168 as of 2022, according to estimates by the World Bank. The autonomous region is located on China’s south coast and ranks first on our list of the 25 most secular countries in the world. With an Insider Monkey Score of 0.2, Macau has a Government Restrictions Index Score of 0.4 and a Social Hostilities Index Score of 0.0 as of 2021. Around 15.4% of the country’s residents are religiously unaffiliated, while 7.2% are Christians, less than 1% Muslims, 17.3% Buddhists, and less than 1% Hindus. In addition, 58.9% of Macau’s population is affiliated with folk religions.
To look at other secular nations across the globe, check out our free report on the 25 Most Secular Countries in the World.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published on Insider Monkey.