Top 50 Countries With Highest Proportion of Atheists / Agnostics

krsna · October 23, 2007

<CENTER>Top 50 Countries

With Highest Proportion of Atheists / Agnostics

(Zuckerman, 2005)

</CENTER>Below is a list of the top fifty countries containing the largest measured percentage of people who identify as atheist, agnostic, or non-believer in God. These figures do not necessarily represent the number of people who are identify themselves as "atheists." For example, in Estonia in 2004, 49% of people surveyed said they did not believe in God. At the same time, only 11% of people in the country identified themselves as atheists.

<CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=3 border=1><TBODY><TR>Country Total country

population % Atheist/

Agnostic/

Nonbeliever in God Number of Atheists/Agnostics

Nonbelievers in God

(minimum - maximum).....>

</TR><TR><TD>Sweden</TD><TD align=right>8,986,000</TD><TD align=right>46 - 85%</TD><TD align=right>4,133,560 - 7,638,100</TD></TR><TR><TD>Vietnam</TD><TD align=right>82,690,000</TD><TD align=right>81%</TD><TD align=right>66,978,900</TD></TR><TR><TD>Denmark</TD><TD align=right>5,413,000</TD><TD align=right>43 - 80%</TD><TD align=right>2,327,590 - 4,330,400</TD></TR><TR><TD>Norway</TD><TD align=right>4,575,000</TD><TD align=right>31 - 72%</TD><TD align=right>1,418,250 - 3,294,000</TD></TR><TR><TD>Japan</TD><TD align=right>127,333,000</TD><TD align=right>64 - 65%</TD><TD align=right>81,493,120 - 82,766,450</TD></TR><TR><TD>Czech Republic</TD><TD align=right>10,246,100</TD><TD align=right>54 - 61%</TD><TD align=right>5,328,940 - 6,250,121</TD></TR><TR><TD>Finland</TD><TD align=right>5,215,000</TD><TD align=right>28 - 60%</TD><TD align=right>1,460,200 - 3,129,000</TD></TR><TR><TD>France</TD><TD align=right>60,424,000</TD><TD align=right>43 - 54%</TD><TD align=right>25,982,320 - 32,628,960</TD></TR><TR><TD>South Korea</TD><TD align=right>48,598,000</TD><TD align=right>30 - 52%</TD><TD align=right>14,579,400 - 25,270,960</TD></TR><TR><TD>Estonia</TD><TD align=right>1,342,000</TD><TD align=right>49%</TD><TD align=right>657,580</TD></TR><TR><TD>Germany</TD><TD align=right>82,425,000</TD><TD align=right>41 - 49%</TD><TD align=right>33,794,250 - 40,388,250</TD></TR><TR><TD>Russia</TD><TD align=right>143,782,000</TD><TD align=right>24 - 48%</TD><TD align=right>34,507,680 - 69,015,360</TD></TR><TR><TD>Hungary</TD><TD align=right>10,032,000</TD><TD align=right>32 - 46%</TD><TD align=right>3,210,240 - 4,614,720</TD></TR><TR><TD>Netherlands</TD><TD align=right>16,318,000</TD><TD align=right>39 - 44%</TD><TD align=right>6,364,020 - 7,179,920</TD></TR><TR><TD>Britain</TD><TD align=right>60,271,000</TD><TD align=right>31 - 44%</TD><TD align=right>18,684,010 - 26,519,240</TD></TR><TR><TD>Belgium</TD><TD align=right>10,348,000</TD><TD align=right>42 - 43%</TD><TD align=right>4,346,160 - 4,449,640</TD></TR><TR><TD>Bulgaria</TD><TD align=right>7,518,000</TD><TD align=right>34 - 40%</TD><TD align=right>2,556,120 - 3,007,200</TD></TR><TR><TD>Slovenia</TD><TD align=right>2,011,000</TD><TD align=right>35 - 38%</TD><TD align=right>703,850 - 764,180</TD></TR><TR><TD>Israel</TD><TD align=right>6,199,000</TD><TD align=right>15 - 37%</TD><TD align=right>929,850 - 2,293,630</TD></TR><TR><TD>Canada</TD><TD align=right>32,508,000</TD><TD align=right>19 - 30%</TD><TD align=right>6,176,520 - 9,752,400</TD></TR><TR><TD>Latvia</TD><TD align=right>2,306,000</TD><TD align=right>20 - 29%</TD><TD align=right>461,200 - 668,740</TD></TR><TR><TD>Slovakia</TD><TD align=right>5,424,000</TD><TD align=right>10 - 28%</TD><TD align=right>542,400 - 1,518,720</TD></TR><TR><TD>Switzerland</TD><TD align=right>7,451,000</TD><TD align=right>17 - 27%</TD><TD align=right>1,266,670 - 2,011,770</TD></TR><TR><TD>Austria</TD><TD align=right>8,175,000</TD><TD align=right>18 - 26%</TD><TD align=right>1,471,500 - 2,125,500</TD></TR><TR><TD>Australia</TD><TD align=right>19,913,000</TD><TD align=right>24 - 25%</TD><TD align=right>4,779,120 - 4,978,250</TD></TR><TR><TD>Taiwan</TD><TD align=right>22,750,000</TD><TD align=right>24%</TD><TD align=right>5,460,000</TD></TR><TR><TD>Spain</TD><TD align=right>40,281,000</TD><TD align=right>15 - 24%</TD><TD align=right>6,042,150 - 9,667,440</TD></TR><TR><TD>Iceland</TD><TD align=right>294,000</TD><TD align=right>16 - 23%</TD><TD align=right>47,040 - 67,620</TD></TR><TR><TD>New Zealand</TD><TD align=right>3,994,000</TD><TD align=right>20 - 22%</TD><TD align=right>798,800 - 878,680</TD></TR><TR><TD>Ukraine</TD><TD align=right>47,732,000</TD><TD align=right>20%</TD><TD align=right>9,546,400</TD></TR><TR><TD>Belarus</TD><TD align=right>10,311,000</TD><TD align=right>17%</TD><TD align=right>1,752,870</TD></TR><TR><TD>Greece</TD><TD align=right>10,648,000</TD><TD align=right>16%</TD><TD align=right>1,703,680</TD></TR><TR><TD>North Korea</TD><TD align=right>22,698,000</TD><TD align=right>15%*</TD><TD align=right>3,404,700</TD></TR><TR><TD>Italy</TD><TD align=right>58,057,000</TD><TD align=right>6 - 15%</TD><TD align=right>3,483,420 - 8,708,550</TD></TR><TR><TD>Armenia</TD><TD align=right>2,991,000</TD><TD align=right>14%</TD><TD align=right>418,740</TD></TR><TR><TD>China</TD><TD align=right>1,298,848,000</TD><TD align=right>8 - 14%*</TD><TD align=right>103,907,840 - 181,838,720</TD></TR><TR><TD>Lithuania</TD><TD align=right>3,608,000</TD><TD align=right>13%</TD><TD align=right>469,040</TD></TR><TR><TD>Singapore</TD><TD align=right>4,354,000</TD><TD align=right>13%</TD><TD align=right>566,020</TD></TR><TR><TD>Uruguay</TD><TD align=right>3,399,000</TD><TD align=right>12%</TD><TD align=right>407,880</TD></TR><TR><TD>Kazakhstan</TD><TD align=right>15,144,000</TD><TD align=right>11 - 12%</TD><TD align=right>1,665,840 - 1,817,280</TD></TR><TR><TD>Mongolia</TD><TD align=right>2,751,000</TD><TD align=right>9%</TD><TD align=right>247,590</TD></TR><TR><TD>Portugal</TD><TD align=right>10,524,000</TD><TD align=right>4 - 9%</TD><TD align=right>420,960 - 947,160</TD></TR><TR><TD>USA</TD><TD align=right>293,028,000</TD><TD align=right>3 - 9%</TD><TD align=right>8,790,840 - 26,822,520</TD></TR><TR><TD>Albania</TD><TD align=right>3,545,000</TD><TD align=right>8%</TD><TD align=right>283,600</TD></TR><TR><TD>Argentina</TD><TD align=right>39,145,000</TD><TD align=right>4 - 8%</TD><TD align=right>1,565,800 - 3,131,600</TD></TR><TR><TD>Kyrgyzstan</TD><TD align=right>5,081,000</TD><TD align=right>7%</TD><TD align=right>355,670</TD></TR><TR><TD>Dominican Republic</TD><TD align=right>8,834,000</TD><TD align=right>7%</TD><TD align=right>618,380</TD></TR><TR><TD>Cuba</TD><TD align=right>11,309,000</TD><TD align=right>7%*</TD><TD align=right>791,630</TD></TR><TR><TD>Croatia</TD><TD align=right>4,497,000</TD><TD align=right>7%</TD><TD align=right>314,790</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>

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). <SMALL>* 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 under Communist governments which have traditionally suppressed religious freedom and officially (often forcibly) endorsed atheism.</SMALL>

gHari · November 4, 2007

I noticed when working in Mexico and Colombia that Christmas was a very joyous celebration everywhere compared to my home Canada where it has all but died. I am not surprised to see neither of them on this black list. I'm a little surprised to see 1 in 3 Canadians screwed up. I guess I've got my work cut out for me here.

Sephiroth · November 14, 2007

I'm surprise that China shown to have max. 14% of it's people as Atheist. 181,000 out of 1 billion people who is estimated to live in China is not an accurate number in my understanding. For one thing, China is a communist country, and this number could be an error.

And North Korea - another country which have been Communist-based since 1950s, and they expect us to believe that only 14% of it's people are Atheists?