Pew - The Global Religious Landscape - The Religiously Unaffiliated

Source and pdf - Published: The Global Religious Landscape, December 18, 2012

Summary

• one-in-six people around the globe (1.1 billion, or 16%) have no religious affiliation
• the unaffiliated are the third-largest religious group worldwide, behind Christians and Muslims, and about equal in size to the world’s Catholic population
• Three-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated (76%) live in the Asia- Pacific region
• most religiously unaffiliated people (71%) live in countries in which they are the predominant religious group
• The Religiously Unaffiliated includes atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion in surveys. However, many of the religiously unaffiliated do hold religious or spiritual beliefs.
• More than six-in-ten (62%) of all religiously unaffiliated people live in one country, China
• There are six countries where the religiously unaffiliated make up a majority of the population

More

• "Pew Forum finds that roughly one-in-six people around the globe (1.1 billion, or 16%) have no religious affiliation. The religiously unaffiliated include atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion in surveys. This makes the unaffiliated the third-largest religious group worldwide, behind Christians and Muslims, and about equal in size to the world’s Catholic population." (source: pdf, pg 9)

• "Many of the religiously unaffiliated have some religious beliefs. For example, belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7% of Chinese unaffiliated adults, 30% of French unaffiliated adults and 68% of unaffiliated U.S. adults. Some of the unaffiliated also engage in certain kinds of religious practices. For example, 7% of unaffiliated adults in France and 2 7% of those in the United States say they attend religious services at least once a year. And in China, 44% of unaffiliated adults say they have worshiped at a graveside or tomb in the past year. Beliefs and practices of unaffiliated adults in the United States are documented in the Pew Forum’s October 2012 report “ ‘Nones’ on the Rise.” (source: pdf, pg 24)

• "Three-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated (76%) live in the Asia- Pacific region. The number of religiously unaffiliated people in China alone (about 700 million) is more than twice the total population of the United States." (source: pdf, pg 10)

• ''most religiously unaffiliated people (71%) live in countries in which they are the predominant religious group. The religiously unaffiliated make up a majority of the population in six countries, of which China is by far the largest. The others are the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hong Kong, Japan and North Korea." (source: pdf, pg 11)

• "The Religiously Unaffiliated includes atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion in surveys. However, many of the religiously unaffiliated do hold religious or spiritual beliefs. eg Belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7% of unaffiliated Chinese adults, 30% of unaffiliated French adults and 68% of unaffiliated U.S. adults". See Note 6 below (source: pdf, pg 15)

(source: pdf, pg 9)

Religiously Unaffiliated

(source: pdf, pg 12)

Census 2011: 25.1% of England & Wales population are religiously unaffiliated (No religion).

• There are six countries where the religiously unaffiliated make up a majority of the population: the Czech Republic (76% are religiously unaffiliated), North Korea (71%), Estonia (60%), Japan (57%), Hong Kong (56%) and China (52%). 
• 16.4% of the total U.S. population was unaffiliated as of 2010. As of 2012, 19.6% of U.S. adults are unaffiliated. (source: pdf, pg 25-26)

(source: pdf, pg 25)

(source: pdf, pg 25)

More than six-in-ten (62%) of all religiously unaffiliated people live in one country, China. The largest populations of the religiously unaffiliated outside China are in Japan (6% of all unaffiliated), the United States (5%), Vietnam (2%) and Russia (2%). (source: pdf, pg 25-26)