Atheism statistics - what do you know about your country

[abaris]

I stumbled over a set of statistics concerning belief and disbelief in my country, which would be Austria. And the numbers are a bit of a paradoxon.

First there are church statistics. According to them, 63 percent of our general population are Roman Catholics. 3,8 percent are protestants of any given denomination.

But there's a Gallup poll too. The „Global Religiosity and Atheism Index“. According to that, only 42 percent of the population considers themselves as in any way religious. 43 percent say, they're not religious and 10 percent claim to be strong atheists.

So for some reason, people stay with their churches although they don't believe in their doctrines.

I would be interested if you have some material about the situation in your particular country.

[Alex K]

Well, I don't have material, but the situation in Germany is of course very similar. Lots of "traditional" Church membership. My mom's family for example is protestant on paper, and my Dad still catholic on paper, even though at least half of them completely reject the doctrine. It's just this cultural and social thing, especially in small towns like ours.

[Jenny A]

I stumbled over a set of statistics concerning belief and disbelief in my country, which would be Austria. And the numbers are a bit of a paradoxon.

First there are church statistics. According to them, 63 percent of our general population are Roman Catholics. 3,8 percent are protestants of any given denomination.

But there's a Gallup poll too. The „Global Religiosity and Atheism Index“. According to that, only 42 percent of the population considers themselves as in any way religious. 43 percent say, they're not religious and 10 percent claim to be strong atheists.

So for some reason, people stay with their churches although they don't believe in their doctrines.

I would be interested if you have some material about the situation in your particular country.

A large part of religious affiliation is cultural. I'm a lifetime atheist, but a cultural protestant, Lutheran in particular. My suspicion is that the odd poll numbers have to do with how the question is asked. I also suspect churches of counting anyone who uses their services whether for a wedding or a funeral.

[tommynba]

There's about 87% roman catholics in my country (Poland) and 2% are different religions. It means there are only 11% unbelievers. But our church counts everyone who were baptised... and even if you try to get a formal apostasy, you still will be counted as a roman catholic, because of the act of christening.

BS.

[abaris]

A large part of religious affiliation is cultural. I'm a lifetime atheist, but a cultural protestant, Lutheran in particular. My suspicion is that the odd poll numbers have to do with how the question is asked. I also suspect churches of counting anyone who uses their services whether for a wedding or a funeral.

Yeah, that's what I guessed from personal experience. I was stuck with the church statistics talking about very high numbers of believers in Austria and I simply couldn't believe them, since you hear virtually nothing about religion unless you're actively looking for it. The Gallup poll makes much more sense and people obviously stick to tradition. Not leaving the church, but not going to church either.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/201...igion.html

http://ir2.flife.de/data/natcen-social-r...=&lang=ENG

Non religion is the largest growing religious demographic in England and wales. Around 15% indicated they had no religious affiliation in 2001 which jumped to 25% in 2011 (which is a conservative figure as it discounts, for example, jedis and other 'joke' answers). The BSAS (url above), arguably a more accurate overview albeit with a far smaller sample (disocounts the nominal christian effect which is prevelant in the national census) , indicates that around 50% have no religious beliefs.

The norm here is really to have no religious beliefs, or not to talk about them.