20 percent of adults have left their childhood religion in many countries, study shows
NEW YORK – A new study has found that in many countries around the world 20 percent or more of all adults have left their childhood religion, with Christianity and Buddhism being the religions that have experienced the largest losses.
Further, the study found that most of the religious switching in each country surveyed has been by people who were raised in religion and are now religiously unaffiliated, and the most religious disaffiliation is from those who were raised Christian.
“Around the World, Many People Are Leaving Their Childhood Religions” was published by the Pew Research Center on March 26. For the report, Pew defines religious switching as a change between the religious group in which a person says they were raised (childhood), and their religious identity now (adulthood).
In all, Pew surveyed nearly 80,000 people across 36 countries to gather the data. The countries surveyed have a variety of historically predominant religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.
More people have left Christianity than have joined it in the 27 countries analyzed that have sufficient sample sizes of Christians. Western countries top the list of those where people who were raised Christian now describe themselves as religiously disaffiliated.
And most who left Christianity are religiously disaffiliated, opposed to joining another religion.
Spain tops the list, with 35 percent of adults saying they were raised Christian now describing themselves as religiously disaffiliated. Other countries at the top of the list of Christian to disaffiliated are Sweden and Germany (both 29 percent), the Netherlands (28 percent), and Canada and the United Kingdom (26 percent). The United States was middle of the pack with 19 percent of adults saying they were raised Christian now describing themselves as religiously unaffiliated, the data shows.
However, despite the losses, the fact still remains that in nearly all of the 27 countries majorities of Christians have retained their religion. This is especially true in the Philippines, Hungary, and Nigeria, where nearly all people who say they were raised Christian are still Christians as adults, according to the report.
Other countries of note are Singapore and South Korea, which the report found have relatively high rates of “accession,” or entrance, into Christianity, with about four-in-10 or more Christian adults in these countries saying they were raised in another religion or with no religion. Still, Christians remain a minority in both Singapore and South Korea, with 18 percent and 33 percent of adults currently identifying as Christian, respectively, the data shows.
To gather the non-U.S. data, the report draws on nationally representative surveys of 41,503 adults conducted from Jan. 5 to May 22, 2024. For the United States, the data comes from the 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study, which was conducted in English and Spanish from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024, among a sample of 36,908 U.S. adults.
Broadly, the countries with the most religious switching, according to the report, are South Korea (50 percent of adults have switched religions), Spain (40 percent), Canada (38 percent), Sweden (37 percent), and the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (both 36 percent).
The United States was 13th on the list, with 28 percent of adults switching religions.
The countries with the least religious switching, according to the report, are Tunisia and Bangladesh (<1 percent of adults in both have switched), Indonesia and Israel (1 percent), and India and Thailand (both 2 percent).
Broken down by age, the report found that in most countries surveyed roughly equal percentages of younger and older adults have switched religions. However, in 13 countries – including nearly all Latin American nations surveyed, as well as countries in Europe and North America – adults under 35 are more likely than adults ages 50 and older to have switched religions.
It’s another data point that confirms the impact of secularization in much of the western world.
Still, at least when it comes to Christianity, the report confirms that despite the reported losses – switching or otherwise – it maintains a profound presence around the world.
“While these figures reflect religious trends in 36 countries included in the survey, they are not necessarily representative of the entire world’s population,” the report states. “Christianity – the world’s largest and most geographically widespread religion, by Pew Research Center’s estimates – is either the current majority faith or historically has been a predominant religion in 25 of the countries surveyed.”
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