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The Largest Atheist / Agnostic Populations

Top 50 Countries With Highest Proportion of Atheists / Agnostics

(Zuckerman, 2005)Below is a list of the top fifty countries containing the largest measured percentage of people whoidentify as atheist, agnostic, or non-believer in God. These figures do not necessarily represent the number of people who areidentify themselves as "atheists." For example, in Estonia in 2004, 49% of people surveyed said they did not believe in God. Atthe same time, only 11% of people in the country identified themselves as atheists.

CountryTotal country

population (2004)

% Atheist/Agnostic/

Nonbeliever in God

Number of Atheists/Agnostics

Nonbelievers in God(minimum - maximum)

Sweden 8,986,000 46 - 85% 4,133,560 - 7,638,100

Vietnam 82,690,000 81% 66,978,900

Denmark 5,413,000 43 - 80% 2,327,590 - 4,330,400

Norway 4,575,000 31 - 72% 1,418,250 - 3,294,000

Japan 127,333,000 64 - 65% 81,493,120 - 82,766,450

Czech Republic 10,246,100 54 - 61% 5,328,940 - 6,250,121

Finland 5,215,000 28 - 60% 1,460,200 - 3,129,000

France 60,424,000 43 - 54% 25,982,320 - 32,628,960

South Korea 48,598,000 30 - 52% 14,579,400 - 25,270,960

Estonia 1,342,000 49% 657,580

Germany 82,425,000 41 - 49% 33,794,250 - 40,388,250

Russia 143,782,000 24 - 48% 34,507,680 - 69,015,360

Hungary 10,032,000 32 - 46% 3,210,240 - 4,614,720

Netherlands 16,318,000 39 - 44% 6,364,020 - 7,179,920

Britain 60,271,000 31 - 44% 18,684,010 - 26,519,240

Belgium 10,348,000 42 - 43% 4,346,160 - 4,449,640

Bulgaria 7,518,000 34 - 40% 2,556,120 - 3,007,200

Slovenia 2,011,000 35 - 38% 703,850 - 764,180

Israel 6,199,000 15 - 37% 929,850 - 2,293,630

Canada 32,508,000 19 - 30% 6,176,520 - 9,752,400

Latvia 2,306,000 20 - 29% 461,200 - 668,740

Slovakia 5,424,000 10 - 28% 542,400 - 1,518,720

Switzerland 7,451,000 17 - 27% 1,266,670 - 2,011,770

Austria 8,175,000 18 - 26% 1,471,500 - 2,125,500

Australia 19,913,000 24 - 25% 4,779,120 - 4,978,250

Taiwan 22,750,000 24% 5,460,000

Spain 40,281,000 15 - 24% 6,042,150 - 9,667,440

Iceland 294,000 16 - 23% 47,040 - 67,620

New Zealand 3,994,000 20 - 22% 798,800 - 878,680

Ukraine 47,732,000 20% 9,546,400

Belarus 10,311,000 17% 1,752,870

Greece 10,648,000 16% 1,703,680

North Korea 22,698,000 15%* 3,404,700

Italy 58,057,000 6 - 15% 3,483,420 - 8,708,550

Armenia 2,991,000 14% 418,740

China 1,298,848,000 8 - 14%* 103,907,840 - 181,838,720

Lithuania 3,608,000 13% 469,040

Singapore 4,354,000 13% 566,020

Uruguay 3,399,000 12% 407,880

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Kazakhstan 15,144,000 11 - 12% 1,665,840 - 1,817,280

Mongolia 2,751,000 9% 247,590

Portugal 10,524,000 4 - 9% 420,960 - 947,160

USA 293,028,000 3 - 9% 8,790,840 - 26,822,520

Albania 3,545,000 8% 283,600

Argentina 39,145,000 4 - 8% 1,565,800 - 3,131,600

Kyrgyzstan 5,081,000 7% 355,670

Dominican Republic 8,834,000 7% 618,380

Cuba 11,309,000 7%* 791,630

Croatia 4,497,000 7% 314,790

Source: Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press:Cambridge, UK (2005).

* NOTE: The estimates of the number of atheists in North Korea, China and Cuba may be unreliable. The best data available have been used in making these estimates, but the people in these three nations live underCommunist governments which have traditionally suppressed religious freedom and officially (often forcibly) endorsed atheism.

Top 20 Countries With Largest Numbers of Atheists / Agnostics

(Zuckerman, 2005)

CountryTotal country

population (2004)

% Atheist/Agnostic/

Nonbeliever in God

Number of Atheists/Agnostics

Nonbelievers in God(minimum - maximum)

China 1,298,848,000 8 - 14%* 103,907,840 - 181,838,720

Japan 127,333,000 64 - 65% 81,493,120 - 82,766,450

Russia 143,782,000 24 - 48% 34,507,680 - 69,015,360

Vietnam 82,690,000 81% 66,978,900

Germany 82,425,000 41 - 49% 33,794,250 - 40,388,250

France 60,424,000 43 - 54% 25,982,320 - 32,628,960

USA 293,028,000 3 - 9% 8,790,840 - 26,822,520

Britain 60,271,000 31 - 44% 18,684,010 - 26,519,240

South Korea 48,598,000 30 - 52% 14,579,400 - 25,270,960

Canada 32,508,000 19 - 30% 6,176,520 - 9,752,400

Spain 40,281,000 15 - 24% 6,042,150 - 9,667,440

Ukraine 47,732,000 20% 9,546,400

Italy 58,057,000 6 - 15% 3,483,420 - 8,708,550

Sweden 8,986,000 46 - 85% 4,133,560 - 7,638,100

Netherlands 16,318,000 39 - 44% 6,364,020 - 7,179,920

Czech Republic 10,246,100 54 - 61% 5,328,940 - 6,250,121

Taiwan 22,750,000 24% 5,460,000

Australia 19,913,000 24 - 25% 4,779,120 - 4,978,250

Hungary 10,032,000 32 - 46% 3,210,240 - 4,614,720

Belgium 10,348,000 42 - 43% 4,346,160 - 4,449,640

Source: Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press:Cambridge, UK (2005).

Top 10 Countries With Highest Proportion of Atheists

(Greeley/Jagodzinski, 1991)

Country PercentAtheist

East Germany 88.20%

Slovenia 29.80

Russia 27.30

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Israel 25.60Netherlands 24.10

Hungary 23.30

Norway 14.90

Britain 14.00

West Germany 12.10

New Zealand 11.50

These figures are based on responses to survey questions about beliefs. There may be overlap between people who self-identify as adherents of an organized religion, while atthe same time hold beliefs which categorize them an atheist. Opinion surveys are typically the only reliable method for determining the numbers of atheists in an area, becauseatheists are rarely affiliated formally with membership organizations. Officially released statistics from some Communist governments are often merely manufactured estimateswithout an empirical or statistical basis.

Figures shown above are the total of "soft core atheists" (don't believe in god, but believe there might be life after death) and "hard core atheists" (disbelieve in god anddisbelieve in life after death), but do not include agnostics ("softest core atheists": "Might be God... might be a life after death").

Note that these terms are from Greeley's statistical study and are noted here not as an endorsement of the terminology, but so that statistical researchers will be ableto identify which columns are the source of the data in the summary tables presented on this page. "Agnosticism" and "atheism" are widely accepted as have differentmeanings. Based on the questions used in the survey, Greeley's category "softest core atheists" fall under the common definition of agnostics, which is why their numbers havenot been included in the "atheist" totals.

Note: The Communist nations of China, Cuba and North Korea were not included in this study. These countries may or may not be among the "Top 10 Most Atheist Countries"in the world. Sociologically, Communism is as much a religion as other "traditional" religions such as Islam or Christianity, although it promotes (often forcibly) beliefs whichwould categorize its adherents as atheists. So in Communist countries, large proportions of people may be properly classified as atheists and also Communists, but they wouldnot be considered secular or "nonreligious" in the sociological sense.

Source: International Social Survey Program's study of religion in 1991, as reported in "The Demand for Religion: Hard Core Atheism and 'Supply Side' Theory" by Wolfgang Jagodzinski (University of Cologne) andAndrew Greeley (University of Chicago, University of Arizona).

Adherents.com plans to revise the "Top 10" list presented on this page through the use of our entire collection of statistics, without relying primarily on one source (Greeley'spaper). Accurate data for China and North Korea remains unavailable. We do not believe the composition of this list will change considerably.

We have already pointed out the possibility that North Korea and China should be on this list but were not included among countries Greeley had data for. Still, William Slawskiwrote the following criticism of this page (3 April 2000):

The use of the term ["softest core atheists"] is carried over from the source of the statistics,which was a paper called "The Demand for Religion: Hard Core Atheismand "Supply Side" Theory."

The abstract at the top of the paper ends with the following sentence: "Finally it considers the one thoroughly secularized country -- East Germany -- and concludesthat the 'demand' for religion can be diminished considerably if a ruthless government takes control of the process of religious socialization." The paper studied only17 countries. The Adherents.com site entitiles their web page "Top 10 Countries With Highest Percentage of Atheists (1991)." The original source of the statisticswasn't an inquiry into which countries had the highest rate of atheism, but rather the effects of oppressive governments on religion. To call the adherents.com webpage misleading would be accurate.

When using statistics to make a presentation, it is often troublesome to remove them too far from the context from which they were originally presented.

The statistical incidence and classification of atheism among world religions is discussed on the Major Religions of the World page.

Send comments, questions, etc., to webmaster@adherents.com. This atheist/atheism geography and statistics webpage was created 4 August 1999. Last modified 27 March 2005.