Share of people with no religion

Atheists, agnostics and people who belong to no religion, as a share of the population (Pew Research Center estimates). Atheists are not counted separately.

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World map: Share of people with no religion, 2020 — Map 2020. Source: Religious Characteristics of States, Demographics v2.0 (Brown et James), via ARDA · 2010-2020: Pew Research Center, via Our World in Data.

In 2020, 171 countries have a value. Highest: China (90 %), Czechia (73 %), North Korea (73 %). Lowest: Thailand (0 %), Somalia (0 %), Sierra Leone (0 %). World (population-weighted average): 24 %. France: 43 % (11th of 171).

Country ranking in 2020

Rank	Country	Value
1	China	90 %
2	Czechia	73 %
3	North Korea	73 %
4	Vietnam	68 %
5	Japan	57 %
6	Netherlands its history →	54 %
7	Uruguay	52 %
8	New Zealand	51 %
9	South Korea	48 %
10	Estonia	44 %
11	France its history →	43 %
12	Australia its history →	42 %
13	Mongolia	41 %
14	United Kingdom	40 %
15	Belgium	39 %
16	Germany its history →	36 %
17	Canada	35 %
18	Slovenia	32 %
19	Switzerland its history →	31 %
20	Chile	30 %
21	United States	30 %
22	Sweden its history →	29 %
23	Hungary its history →	27 %
24	Spain its history →	26 %
25	Finland	25 %
26	Luxembourg	25 %
27	Slovakia	25 %
28	Jamaica	24 %
29	Taiwan	23 %
30	Austria	22 %
31	Cuba	22 %
32	Madagascar	22 %
33	Norway	22 %
34	Dominican Republic	20 %
35	Iceland	20 %
36	Russia	20 %
37	Singapore	20 %
38	Denmark	17 %
39	Latvia	17 %
40	Belize	16 %
41	Ireland	16 %
42	Botswana	15 %
43	Ukraine its history →	15 %
44	Belarus	14 %
45	Mozambique	14 %
46	Portugal its history →	14 %
47	Brazil	13 %
48	Italy	13 %
49	Nicaragua	13 %
50	Guinea-Bissau	12 %
51	El Salvador	12 %
52	Mexico	11 %
53	New Caledonia	11 %
54	Zimbabwe	11 %
55	Bulgaria	10 %
56	Costa Rica	10 %
57	Puerto Rico	10 %
58	Colombia	9.9 %
59	Honduras	9.7 %
60	Venezuela	9.7 %
61	Bolivia	9.5 %
62	Haiti	9.4 %
63	Argentina its history →	9.2 %
64	Poland	8.6 %
65	Ecuador	8.4 %
66	Suriname	8.1 %
67	Togo	8 %
68	Albania	7.7 %
69	Lithuania	7.1 %
70	Croatia	6.7 %
71	Cyprus	6.6 %
72	Panama	6.2 %
73	Eswatini	6.2 %
74	Angola	6.1 %
75	Guatemala	6 %
76	Gabon	5.8 %
77	Côte d’Ivoire	5.6 %
78	Namibia	5.6 %
79	Congo - Brazzaville	5.2 %
80	Malta	5.2 %
81	Peru	5.1 %
82	Equatorial Guinea	5 %
83	Benin	4.9 %
84	Azerbaijan	4.8 %
85	Greece	4.7 %
86	Israel	4.4 %
87	Paraguay	4.2 %
88	Serbia	4 %
89	Tanzania	3.5 %
90	French Guiana	3.4 %
91	Chad	3.1 %
92	South Africa	3.1 %
93	Guyana	2.9 %
94	Kazakhstan	2.5 %
95	Mali	2.5 %
96	Türkiye	2.5 %
97	Trinidad & Tobago	2.4 %
98	Cameroon	2.1 %
99	Syria	2 %
100	Bahamas	1.9 %
101	Lesotho	1.7 %
102	Kenya	1.6 %
103	Vanuatu	1.4 %
104	Burundi	1.3 %
105	Algeria	1.3 %
106	Guinea	1.3 %
107	Armenia	1.2 %
108	Congo - Kinshasa	1.2 %
109	Kyrgyzstan	1.2 %
110	Niger	1.2 %
111	Djibouti	1.1 %
112	Eritrea	1.1 %
113	Ghana	1.1 %
114	Liberia	1.1 %
115	Montenegro	1.1 %
116	Bosnia & Herzegovina	1 %
117	Georgia	1 %
118	Rwanda	1 %
119	Malawi	0.9 %
120	Romania	0.9 %
121	Malaysia	0.8 %
122	Burkina Faso	0.6 %
123	Sudan	0.6 %
124	Uzbekistan	0.6 %
125	Central African Republic	0.5 %
126	North Macedonia	0.5 %
127	Nigeria	0.4 %
128	South Sudan	0.4 %
129	Tunisia	0.4 %
130	United Arab Emirates	0.3 %
131	Western Sahara	0.3 %
132	Fiji	0.3 %
133	Papua New Guinea	0.3 %
134	Qatar	0.3 %
135	Solomon Islands	0.3 %
136	Brunei	0.2 %
137	Kuwait	0.2 %
138	Moldova	0.2 %
139	Ethiopia	0.1 %
140	Indonesia	0.1 %
141	Cambodia	0.1 %
142	Laos	0.1 %
143	Sri Lanka	0.1 %
144	Morocco	0.1 %
145	Myanmar (Burma)	0.1 %
146	Mauritania	0.1 %
147	Oman	0.1 %
148	Saudi Arabia	0.1 %
149	Tajikistan	0.1 %
150	Turkmenistan	0.1 %
151	Timor-Leste	0.1 %
152	Uganda	0.1 %
153	Yemen	0.1 %
154	Zambia	0.1 %
155	Afghanistan	0 %
156	Bhutan	0 %
157	Egypt	0 %
158	Gambia	0 %
159	India its history →	0 %
160	Iran	0 %
161	Iraq	0 %
162	Jordan	0 %
163	Lebanon	0 %
164	Libya	0 %
165	Nepal	0 %
166	Pakistan	0 %
167	Philippines	0 %
168	Senegal	0 %
169	Sierra Leone	0 %
170	Somalia	0 %
171	Thailand	0 %

7 countries or territories have no value that year.

Continent averages

World (population-weighted average)	24 %
Europe (average)	23 %
Africa (average)	2.2 %
Americas (average)	19 %
Asia (average)	32 %
Oceania (average)	32 %

Understanding this map

What these figures measure

This is about affiliation: the religion people identify with or were raised in, not their practice or the strength of their faith. A baptised French person who never goes to church counts as Catholic. From 1900 to 2015 the figures come from the academic Religious Characteristics of States project (Davis Brown and Patrick James): a single method for every country and year, built from censuses, surveys and religious records, colonies and Soviet republics included. For 2010-2020 the map also offers Pew Research Center estimates, with less detail.

No religion, atheists, not stated

“No religion” groups agnostics, the indifferent and atheists; atheists, who assert that God does not exist, are also counted separately. They are far fewer: in France in 2015, 24% with no religion of whom 4% atheists. Their record dates from communist regimes, which imposed atheism: about 30% in Estonia and 22% in Russia around 1980, 16% in North Korea today. The “not stated” category mostly gathers people who did not answer the census question: 48% in Czechia in 2010, 31% in Russia in 2015. Many are probably non-religious, but there is no way to know. Finally, this series partly relies on church records (baptisms, registered members), which overstates religious affiliation in highly secular countries. In France it counts 24% with no religion in 2015, whereas surveys where people describe themselves find far more: 43% according to Pew in 2020, 51% of 18-59 year-olds according to Insee (Trajectoires et origines survey, 2019-2020). Likewise, opinion surveys find more atheists than the 4% of this series.

The big changes

In Africa, the Christian share rises from 8% in 1900 to almost half in 2015, at the expense of traditional religions. Communist regimes pushed religion back by force: in Russia, 40% with no religion in 1950, 46% in 1980, then 8% in 2015; in Albania, the first officially atheist state (1967), 66% in 1980. In Western Europe secularisation is slower but steady: in the Netherlands, people with no religion go from 17% in 1950 to 52% in 2015. South Korea goes from 6% Christian in 1950 to 35% in 2015. Worldwide the Muslim share rises (15% in 1900, 23% in 2015), mainly because Muslim populations are young and have more children.

Limits

Counting religions is hard, and sources differ widely. The map's two series are therefore not joined end to end: from 2010 to 2015, the tooltip gives the other source's estimate. In China, the 1900-2015 series counts about 40% with no religion and a fifth following folk religions; Pew counts nearly 90%. In Estonia, 53% with no religion and 17% not stated on one side, 32% with no religion on the other. In Japan, many people belong to both Buddhism and Shinto without calling themselves religious. Before 1950, and in countries without a religious census, figures are reconstructions.

Sources : Religious Characteristics of States, Demographics v2.0 (Brown et James), via ARDA · 2010-2020: Pew Research Center, via Our World in Data

In the same theme : Religions

Share of a religion Largest religion

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Page updated on 2026-11-03.