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Least Religious Countries
When you travel to Europe, don't be surprised to find that many Europeans don't believe in God. I have even witnessed some alcohol-infused conversations between Americans and Europeans that almost ended in fistfights over His/Her existence. When you travel to the following countries, you might want to pick a less controversial topic of conversation ... umm, maybe George W?Here are the Top 10 least religious countries in the world:
1. Sweden (up to 85% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)
2. Vietnam
3. Denmark
4. Norway
5. Japan
6. Czech Republic
7. Finland
8. France
9. South Korea
10. Estonia (up to 49% non-believer, atheist, agnostic)
The one that surprised me was Israel, ranking 19th, with up to 37% claiming to be non-believer, atheist, agnostic. Compare that with the United States, ranking 44th, with 3-9% non-believers, atheists, agnostics. (I think I have met them all on the streets of New York City, too.)
The survey concluded that "high levels of organic atheism are strongly correlated with high levels of societal health, such as low homicide rates, low poverty rates, low infant mortality rates, and low illiteracy rates, as well as high levels of educational attainment, per capita income, and gender equality. Most nations characterized by high degrees of individual and societal security have the highest rates of organic atheism, and conversely, nations characterized by low degrees of individual and societal security have the lowest rates of organic atheism. In some societies, particularly Europe, atheism is growing. However, throughout much of the world -- particularly nations with high birth rates -- atheism is barely discernable."
Filed under: Arts and Culture, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 19)
UKlad Mar 18th 2010 6:09AM
Really, the USA has got a small Atheist population. However, I would say that most Christians and many Jews and Buddhists of the USA aren't religious though.
And, often if you ask someone their religion in the USA, they'll talk about their family religion and their celebrations, not their actual belief. The atheists are the ones who cut off all relations with their religious ancestors.
Whereas in most of the EU nations, people either define religion as their beliefs (e.g. in the UK, Ireland, France or Czech) or have double polls about belief and the USA definition (e.g. Sweden, Finland, Germany, Netherlands)
limo hire Jun 24th 2010 10:33AM
I found this blog very informative and useful for everyone. Thank you for such a wonderful post.
Jehnavi Jul 8th 2010 7:05AM
Atheists are clearly no less propagandist and prone to misinformation than the religious. On what basis are those first ten the world’s least religious? Separation of church and state? Proportion of people professing a faith? Proportion of people attending places of worship? While the religious believe in a superior being, atheists believe in their own superiority over others, and that renders them equally stupid. The bottom 4 on the list of least peaceful nations hardly rank as being among the world’s most religious nations on any of those scores, but one wouldn’t extrapolate from a sample of four. This is not just bad logic, it’s bad arithmetic.
http://www.europevoyage.net/
limo hire Jul 29th 2010 4:53AM
Its a nice piece of thought you shared with Us...Thank you very much for this post.
limo hire
enderias Jan 13th 2011 8:10AM
I am looking the sponsor to join bible collage for capacity building...........
michele Nov 23rd 2011 2:24AM
Of course the more non religious countries are better off. They are less desperate and more educated. I would like to find a more recent list.
Paul Feb 9th 2012 7:03PM
My dad is a preacher and i was raised in a christian family and i know the bible than most christians do themselves but you cant rationaly beleive in what the bible says thats why they ask you to take it on faith when facts and common sense suggests otherwise although i could write a book on things that are wrong with religion im just going to say it -religion is bullsh*t-
MT Mar 22nd 2012 5:41PM
I think it's likely more American's are atheists than the polls indicate. There's much more pressure here to publicly believe than in many western countries. Yeah, closet atheists are cowards because deep down, America still has its hypocritical puritan roots and atheists are one of the last groups organizations are allowed to persecute without fear of reprisal.
Mike G Aug 23rd 2007 2:10PM
Does the survey also make the connection that high levels of organic atheism are also strongly correlated with high levels of suicide in those Nordic countries?
john May 25th 2008 2:32PM
correlated with suicide ? lets see your research and proof buddy. people who choose not to follow religion actually have common sense. if you want to believe in a fairy tale thats your choice.
a guy from Estonia Jun 7th 2008 3:54PM
actually, Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in the hole world. Lithuania is the most religious country of the baltic states, Estonia and Latvia have high suicide rates too, but that's because of our depressive history.
Especially estonians who are just cold people. (kinda like the finns but more depressed :P )
Jurek Dec 29th 2008 7:25AM
I'd say Poland is much more religious than Lithuania, about 94% of Poles said they believe in a God.
In Europe, id say Malta is the most religious country, 98% of the island is roman catholic
Brandon Mar 9th 2009 10:36AM
The High Rate of Suicide in the nordic countrys is because of the extremes with the amount of sun they get. In the summer the sun sets at 2am and rises at 6am in the winter the sun sets at noon and rises at 7am ish. its not becuase of Organic Atheism. Dont Make Assumptions that you have no proof for.
william Mar 10th 2009 6:04AM
please read,with great care.exodus ch 19:9-11,God spoke from the sky,to 2-3 million eyewitnesses,believe in moses forever.exodus ch 12:37-38,,,600,000,men,equal women,equal kids v 38,,,,,,1,800,000 people were eyewitnesses,GOD told moses what to teach from the sky,GOD tells you what to believe from the sky,to eyewitnesses.exodus ch 20:19-22.God spoke from the sky'JESUS is Gods son,listen to JESUS' to eyewitnesses.mathew ch 17,mark ch 9,luke ch 9:28-36,2peter ch1:16-18.it happens twice,its recorded 6 times in new testament.GOD never spoke from sky,listen to buddha,muhammed,or hare krishna,or wicca.this is not a theory,from experiments,that keep changing theorys.not a hypothesis,or opinion,nor educated guess,this is recorded by eyewitnesses as history,better than all other history recorded on earth.
Iva Skoch Aug 23rd 2007 2:45PM
Somewhat true, although according to the World Health Organization data, the suicide rates in the US are basically the same as those in Norway. Russia, Belarus and Sri Lanka have the highest suicide rates.
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide_rates/en/index.html
xn Dec 12th 2008 7:59PM
I think his point is that one can correlate a lot of things, but not find causation. All of those nations (except France) admit of strong ethnic homogeneity. One could also correlate that statistic with Atheism. We tend to add causation to correlation when it suits our purposes.
Erik Aug 23rd 2007 4:41PM
I would also assume that high levels of organic atheism are also highly correlated with low levels of delusional belief in ancient myths.
DUnkyHazard Feb 27th 2009 10:36AM
Hhahhahahahhahahahhahahahhahhaha.
Rooz Mar 9th 2009 6:35PM
Huh???
Atheism means you're smarter. Smarter than YOU, definitely.
Rooz Mar 9th 2009 6:40PM
Oops, sorry Erik I sped through what you wrote. :D I agree!