Number Of Religious People Shrinking

For the last three decades or so in the United States, the religious right has been very vocal in trying to inject their religion into government and the political arena -- more so than at other times in this nation's history. This may be because those people can see that as time passes in this modern world, less and less people say they are religious. It was verified recently by a survey by the Pew Research Center, which showed that each of the last five generations in the United States has been less religious than the generation that preceded it.

Now there is a new survey that shows this is not just happening in the United States, but is a worldwide phenomenon. The poll was done by Win Gallup International (not connected to the U.S. Gallup Poll) between November 2011 and January 2012. It covered 57 different countries and polled at least 1000 adults in each of those countries (and has a margin of error of 3.5 points). This survey found that religion is indeed shrinking in the United States, just as it is worldwide. The people in all the countries were asked the same question:

IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER YOU ATTEND A PLACE OF WORSHIP OR NOT, WOULD YOU SAY YOU ARE A RELIGIOUS PERSON, NOT A RELIGIOUS PERSON, OR A CONVINCED ATHEIST?

Worldwide about 59% of the population considered themselves to be religious, while 23% said they were not religious and 13% said they were atheists. Compared to 2005 (when the same question was asked), that is a 9 point drop in the number saying they are religious. Those claiming not to be religious showed a 6 point rise, and those saying they were atheists showed a 3 point rise.

One of the interesting aspects of the survey was that it showed those making less money are more religious than those making more money. Here are the numbers of those claiming to be religious (divided into quintiles according to income):

Lowest quintile...............66%
Second quintile...............65%
Middle quintile...............56%
Fourth quintile...............51%
Highest quintile...............49%

Here in the United States, 60% said they were religious (a 13 point drop since 2005). This put the United States in the top ten countries showing the largest drop in religiosity. Here are those top ten countries (with the first number being those who say they are religious and the number in parentheses being the percentage it has dropped since 2005):

COUNTRIES SHOWING LARGEST DROP IN RELIGIOUS SINCE 2005
1. Vietnam...............30% (-23%)
2. Ireland...............47% (-22%)
3. Switzerland...............50% (-21%)
4. France...............37% (-21%)
5. South Africa...............64% (-19%)
6. Iceland...............57% (-17%)
7. Ecuador...............70% (-15%)
8. United States...............60% (-13%)
9. Canada...............46% (-12%)
10. Austria...............42% (-10%)

And here are some other interesting rankings:

COUNTRIES WITH THE LARGEST ATHEIST POPULATIONS
1. China...............47%
2. Japan...............31%
3. Czech Republic...............30%
4. France...............29%
5. South Korea...............15%
6. Germany...............15%
7. Netherlands...............14%
8. Austria...............10%
9. Iceland...............10%
10. Australia...............10%
11. Ireland...............10%

COUNTRIES WITH THE LARGEST RELIGIOUS POPULATIONS
1. Ghana...............96%
2. Nigeria...............93%
3. Armenia...............92%
4. Fiji...............92%
5. Macedonia...............90%
6. Romania...............89%
7. Iraq...............88%
8. Kenya...............88%
9. Peru...............86%
10. Brazil...............85%