Irreligion is the absence or rejection of religious or practices. It encompasses a wide range of viewpoints drawn from various philosophical and intellectual perspectives, including atheism, agnosticism, religious skepticism, rationalism, secularism, and non-religious spirituality. These perspectives can vary, with individuals who identify as irreligious holding diverse beliefs about religion and its role in their lives.
Relatively little scholarly research was published on irreligion until around the year 2010.
Estimating the number of irreligious people in the world is difficult. Those who do not affiliate with a religion are diverse. In many countries censuses and demographic surveys do not separate atheists, agnostics and those responding "nothing in particular" as distinct populations, obscuring significant differences that may exist between them. People can feel reasonable anxieties about giving a politically ‘wrong’ answer – in either direction. Measurement of irreligiosity requires a high degree of cultural sensitivity, especially outside the West, where the concepts of "religion" or "the secular" are not always rooted in local culture and may not even be present. The sharp distinction, and often antagonism, between "religious" and "secular" is culturally and historically unique to the West since in most of human history and cultures, there was little differentiation between the natural and supernatural and concepts do not always transfer across cultures. Forms of secularity always reflect the societal, historical, cultural and religious contexts in which they emerge, and distinctions are sharp in religiously dominant contexts. Also, there's considerable prevalence of atheism and agnosticism in ancient Asian texts. Atheistic traditions have played a significant part in those cultures for millennia. "Cultural religion" must be taken into account: non-religious people can be found in religious categories, especially where religion has very deep-seated religious roots in a culture. Many of the religiously unaffiliated have some religious beliefs and participate in religious practices. In 2016, Phil Zuckerman, Galen and Pasquale estimated there were 400 million nonreligious or nontheistic people.
A 2022 Gallup International Association (GIA) survey, done in 61 countries, reported that 62% of respondents said they are religious, one in four that they aren't, 10% that they're atheists and the rest are not sure. In 2016, it found similar results (62%, 25%, 9% and 5%), also in 2014. People in the European Union, East Asia and Oceania were the least religious.
In 2010, according to Pew, the religiously unaffiliated numbered more than 1.1 billion, about one-in-six people (16.3% of an estimated 6.9 billion). 76% of them resided in the 60 countries of Asia-Pacific. China, officially an State atheism and considered to be the world's first or second most populous country, alone held the majority (62.2% or about 700 million). Nevertheless, several smaller countries, especially in Europe and Asia, eclipse China's percent of residents who are irreligious with even higher proportions. Shares were relatively similar in three of the six regions: Asia-Pacific (21.2% of more than 4 billion), Europe (18.2% of more than 742 thousands) and North America (17.1% of more than 344 thousands). Men, Youth, and whites, Asian people, and people of Jewish heritage are more likely to be secular.
Some scholars define irreligion as the active rejection of religion, as opposed to the mere absence of religion. The Encyclopedia of Religion and Society defines it as: "Active rejection of religion in general or any of its more specific organized forms. It is thus distinct from the secular, which simply refers to the absence of religion. ... In contemporary usage, it is increasingly employed as a synonym for unbelief ..." Sociologist Colin Campbell also describes it as "deliberate indifference towards religion", in his 1971 Towards a Sociology of Irreligion.
The Oxford English Dictionary has two definitions, one of which is labelled Obsolescence (first published in 1900). It is want of religion; hostility to or disregard of religious principles; irreligious conduct.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines it as "the quality or state of being irreligious" and "irreligious" as "neglectful of religion: lacking religious emotions, doctrines, or practices", also "indicating lack of religion".
Also for "religion", there is no universally agreed-upon definition, even within the social sciences.
Most democracies protect the freedom of religion or belief, and it is largely implied in respective legal systems that those who do not believe or observe any religion are allowed freedom of thought.
A noted exception to ambiguity, explicitly allowing non-religion, is Article 36 of the Constitution of China (as adopted in 1982), which states that "No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion." Article 46 of China's 1978 Constitution was even more explicit, stating that "Citizens enjoy freedom to believe in religion and freedom not to believe in religion and to propagate atheism."
In many countries censuses and demographic surveys do not separate atheists, agnostics and those responding "nothing in particular" as distinct populations. Both "religion" and "secular" are Western concepts and are not universal across cultures, languages, or time.
In 2020, of the global atheist and non-religious population, 78% live in Asia and the Pacific, while the remainder reside in Europe (10%), North America (6%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%), sub-Saharan Africa (1.5%) and the Middle East and North Africa (.1%). Eleven countries have nonreligious majorities. In 2020, the countries with the highest percentage of "Non-Religious" ("Term encompassing both (a) agnostics; and (b) atheists") were North Korea, the Czech Republic and Estonia. According to the 2018 Chinese General Social Survey, China had the largest count of unaffiliated people: about one billion adults. According to Pew Research in 2025, China alone makes up 67% of the global religiously unaffiliated demographic. Some broadly religious practices continue to play a significant role in the lives of a substantial shares of the Chinese population. The Asia-Pacific region alone accounts for 78% of the global unaffliated demographic.
Determining objective irreligion, as part of societal or individual levels of secularity and religiosity, requires a high degree of cultural sensitivity from researchers. This is especially so outside the Western world, where the concepts of "religious" and "secular" are not necessarily rooted in local culture or even exist. "Cultural religion" is a vivid reality. It must be taken into account when trying to ascertain the numeric strength of atheism and agnosticism in a country. It is generally not considered more important than self-identification measures. Non-religious people can be found in religious categories. And many of the unafflilated still hold religious beliefs or practices. This is especially the case where religion has very deep-seated religious roots in a culture, such as with Christianity in Europe, Islam in the Middle East, Hinduism in India, and Buddhism in South-east Asia. For instance, countries have among the highest measures of nonreligiosity and even atheism in Europe. For example, 58% of the Swedish population identify with the Church of Sweden. Yet, 47% of atheists who live in those countries are still formally members of the national churches.
Secular people are complex and not always devoid of religious or spiritual involvement.
In 2016, Phil Zuckerman, Galen and Pasquale estimated there were 400 million nonreligious or nontheistic people. In their 2013 essay, Ariela Keysar and Juhem Navarro-Rivera estimated there were about 450 to 500 million nonbelievers, including both "positive" and "negative" atheists, or approximately 7% of the world population. These estimates come from the International Social Survey Programme 2008 survey in which 40 countries took part. In 2010, the religiously unaffiliated numbered more than 1.1 billion (around 1,126,500,000 persons), about one-in-six people (16.3% of an estimated 6,9 billion world population), according to Pew Research Center. In Pew reports, "unaffiliated" are atheists, agnostics, and people who checked "nothing in particular". 76% of them resided in one of the six regions: Asia-Pacific. A 2012 WIN/Gallup International report on a poll from 57 countries reported that 59% of the world's population identified as a religious person, 23% as not a religious person, 13% as "convinced atheists", and also a 9% decrease in identification as "religious" when compared to the 2005 average from 39 countries. A 2015 WIN/Gallup International poll found that 63% of the globe identified as a religious person, 22% as not a religious person, and 11% as "convinced atheists". Their 2016 survey found that 62% of the globe identified as a religious person, less than 25% as not a religious person, 9% others as "convinced atheists" and 5% others "Do not know/no response". Keysar and Navarro-Rivera advised caution with these figures since other surveys have consistently reached lower figures for the number of atheists worldwide.
Inverse association between intelligence and religiosity, and the inverse correlation between intelligence and fertility might lead to a decline in non-religious identity (contra-secularization hypothesis) in the foreseeable future. In 2007, sociologist Phil Zuckerman's global studies on atheism have indicated that global atheism may be in decline due to irreligious countries having the lowest birth rates in the world and religious countries having higher birth rates in general. A Pew 2015 global projection study for religion and nonreligion, projected that between 2010 and 2050, there will be some initial increases of the unaffiliated followed by a decline by 2050. Some theorists think religion will fade away but Pew reveals a more complicated picture. Pew predicts the unaffiliated share of the world population will decrease, at least for a while, from 16.4% to 13.2% by 2050. Pew states that religious areas are experiencing the fastest growth because of higher fertility and younger populations. By 2060, Pew says the number of unaffiliated will increase by over 35 million, but the overall population-percentage will decrease to 13% because the total population will grow faster. This would be mostly because of relatively old age and low fertility rates in less religious societies such as East Asia, particularly China and Japan, but also Western Europe. By 2019, 43 out of 49 countries studied continued to become less religious.
Relatively few unbelievers select ‘Atheist’ or ‘Agnostic’ as their preferred (non)religious or secular identity. Being nonreligious is not necessarily equivalent to being an atheist or agnostic. Many of the nonreligious have some religious beliefs. Also, some of the unaffiliated engage in certain kinds of religious practices. For example, "belief in God or a higher power is shared by 7% of Chinese unaffiliated adults, 30% of French unaffiliated adults and 68% of unaffiliated U.S. adults. Being unaffiliated with a religion on polls does not automatically mean objectively nonreligious since there are, for example, unaffiliated people who fall under religious measures, just as some unbelievers may still attend a church or other place of worship. Out of the global nonreligious population, 76.2% reside in Asia-Pacific, while the remainder reside in Europe (12%), North America (5.2%), Latin America and the Caribbean (4%), sub-Saharan Africa (2.4%) and the Middle East and North Africa (0.2%).
The Zuckerman data on the table below only reflect the number of people who have an absence of belief in a deity only (atheists, agnostics). These do not include the broader number of people who do not identify with a particular religion, such as deists, pantheists, and spiritual but not religious people.
Inglehart and Norris speculate that the decline in religiosity comes from a decline in the social need for traditional gender and sexual norms, ("virtually all world religions instilled" pro-fertility norms such as "producing as many children as possible and discouraged divorce, abortion, homosexuality, contraception, and any sexual behavior not linked to reproduction" in their adherents for centuries) as life expectancy rose and infant mortality dropped. They also argue that the idea that religion was necessary to prevent a collapse of social cohesion and public morality was belied by lower levels of corruption and murder in less religious countries. They argue that both of these trends are based on the theory that as societies develop, survival becomes more secure: starvation, once pervasive, becomes uncommon; life expectancy increases; murder and other forms of violence diminish. As this level of security rises, there is less social/economic need for the high birthrates that religion encourages and less emotional need for the comfort of religious belief. Change in acceptance of "divorce, abortion, and homosexuality" has been measured by the World Values Survey and shown to have grown throughout the world outside of Muslim-majority countries. Several very comprehensive surveys in the Middle East and Iran have come to similar conclusions: there is an increase in secularization and growing calls for reforms in religious political institutions.
Etymology
Definition
Types
History
Human rights
Demographics
By population
700,680,000 72,120,000 26,040,000 23,180,000 20,350,000 17,580,000 22,350,000 50,980,000 17,350,000 15,410,000
Historical trends
Prior to the 1980s
1981–2019
See also
Notes
Bibliography
External links
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