6 New Facts About Religion in the World: Most and Least Religious Countries

By Alison Lesley --
17 Apr 2015 --

Religion_distribution

Study by Gallup International and WI Network of Market Research Teaches us 6 New Things about Religion in the World.

Results of a study by Gallup International and the WI Network of Market Research that encompassed 65 countries and took 63,898 interviews have been released. The study delved into a few different factors to determine the most religious and least religious regions: country, age, income bracket, job and education. As a result, we now know a few new things about religion around the world.

6 New Things About Religion in the World

1. China and Japan are the least religious.

When the survey was released, China and Japan came in the last place. 6% of China’s population consider themselves religious while 61% are atheists. In Japan, 13% consider themselves as religious. Sweden followed closely behind at 19%, the Czech Republic has 23% who are religious and the Netherlands tied with Hong Kong with 26%. The United Kingdom ranked sixth with 30% of the population classifying themselves as religious.

2. Higher Income Earners are typically less religious.

The study considered income brackets as one of the factors of religiousness. They found that under 50% of those earning medium high to high incomes are religious. 7 in 10 people in low, medium low and medium incomes are religious.

3. Age does matter.

Those aged 44-54 are among the least likely to be religious, surprisingly enough. Those under the age of 24, on the other hand, are more likely to be religious than most age groups. The elderly are more inclined to being atheist.

4. Thailand is the most religious country.

Thailand’s surveys returned with 94% of the population as religious, and a mere 1% that consider themselves atheist. However, Eastern Asia has twice as many atheists as they have believers.

A survey found that 94% of people in Thailand are religious, making it the most religious country in the world — China is the least with 7%.
— UberFacts (@UberFacts) April 17, 2015

5. Full-time workers tend to be less religious.

When the survey considered the different job positions one can hold, they found that housewives are the most religious position. Retirees and students follow shortly after that.

6. 3 in 5 people who attended a university are religious.

In comparison to the 4 in 5 that haven’t had a college education, more educated people are less religious. However, it’s important to note that there are religious people across all education levels, job positions, ages and income brackets.

Jean-Mark Leger, the Gallup International president, said that as a whole, 2 in 3 people consider themselves religious, demonstrating that religion strongly dominates daily life and tradition. “Furthermore,” he said, “with the trend of increasingly religious youth globally, we can assume that the number of people who consider themselves religious will only continue to increase.”