It’s Sweden. There, 85% of the population has no belief or does not believe in God.
This was the result of the search Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Standards, by American sociologist Phil Zuckerman. According to him, Swedes learn about each of the religions at school and are free to choose to follow one of them or not. And this is repeated in most countries with a high rate of atheism. It is worth remembering that the study includes atheists, agnostics and non-believers in God and the ranking is based on the percentage of the population of each country. While atheists deny the existence of God, agnostics claim that it is not possible to prove the existence of God.
Atheists in the world: 749.2 million (11% of the world’s population)
To believe or not to believe?
SWEDEN
85%
Population: 8.9 million
atheists: 7.6 million
VIETNAM
81%
Population: 82.6 million
atheists: 66.9 million
>>> Buddhism and Taoism, common religions there, are seen as a tradition, not belief
DENMARK
80%
Population: 5.4 million
atheists: 4.3 million
>>> A UN survey points out that countries with a good literacy rate tend to be more skeptical
NORWAY
72%
Population: 4.5 million
atheists: 3.2 million
JAPAN
65%
Population: 127 million
atheists: 82 million
>>> In 2008, British researcher Richard Lynn concluded that countries with high IQ are more atheist. This is the case of the Japanese population, which maintains an average of 105, one of the highest ever recorded.
CZECH REPUBLIC
61%
Population: 10 million
atheists: 6.2 million
FINLAND
60%
Population: 5.2 million
atheists: 3.1 million
FRANCE
54%
Population: 60.4 million
atheists: 32.6 million
SOUTH KOREA
52%
Population: 48.5 million
atheists: 25.2 million
beliefs in the world
1. Christianity: 33.3% or 2 billion people (Catholic: 16.8%; Protestant: 6%; Orthodox: 4%; Anglican: 1.2%)
2. Others: 23%
3. Islam: 22.4% or 1.2 billion people
4. Hinduism: 13.7% or 900 million people
5. Buddhism: 7.1%
6. Sikhism: 0.3%
7. Judaism: 0.2%
atheism by age
1. 18 and 34 years old: 54%
2. 35 and 49 years: 24%
3. 50 to 64 years old: 15%
4. 65 years: 7%
Countries with the most atheists
1. 181.8 million Chinese are atheists. A China occupies the 36th place in the ranking of countries with the highest percentage of atheists (14%). In absolute numbers, however, it is where more people without belief live
2. Japan: 82 million
3. Russia: 69 million
4. Vietnam: 66 million
5. Germany: 40 million
6. France: 32 million
7. USA: 26.8 million
8. England: 26.5 million
9. South Korea: 25 million
The most faithful (countries whose majority of the population has some belief)
1. Italy: 90% (53 million)
2. Philippines: 80% (75 million)
3. Mexico: 76% (96 million)
4. Brazil: 73% (137 million)
atheism by sex
1. Men: 56%
2 women: 44%
In science: 50% of scientists have some religiosity. Among them, 36% believe in God. Atheists: 10%. Christians: 2%.
Sources: Research by Phil Zuckerman (2007), Richard Lynn (2008) and Elaine Howard Ecklund (2010); UN; adherents.com, American Religious Identification Survey, The Pew Research Center, Gallup Poll, The New York Times, Good, Nature, Live Science It is Discovery Magazine