Sunday, 13 Oct, 2024
By: Anshul Vipat
Global trends indicate that while the number of people associating themselves as Christians, Hindus, Islam, Buddhists, Jewish etc. is increasing, a large number of people not afflicted to any religion is also on a rise.
A few days ago, Pew Research Centre conducted a study that revealed that Christianity in United States is declining consistently for years. On the other hand, the number of Americans identifying themselves as agnostic, non-religious or those who don't affiliate with a particular religion has grown dramatically since the 1990s. The think tank showed that as of 2020, 64 percent Americans identified themselves as Christians, 30% unaffiliated and 6% members of all other religions.
The study correlates with the changing religious profile of the world. Global trends indicate that while the number of people associating themselves as Christians, Hindus, Islam, Buddhists, Jewish etc. is increasing, a large number of people not afflicted to any religion is also on a rise. According to a past survey by Pew Research, there were about 1.1 billion atheists, agnostics and people who do not identify with any particular religion. By 2050, the unaffiliated population is expected to exceed 1.2 billion. As a separate group, they will be 13 percent of the total world population by 2050.
What the worldwide trend on atheism says
Although accurate demographic data of atheism is difficult to obtain since conceptions of atheism vary considerably across different cultures and languages, data from dozens of countries around the world show that a significant chunk of population do not share a singular belief system.
Source: World Population Review
According to a poll conducted by WIN-Gallup, China boasts the highest population of atheists in the world by a considerable margin, with 91 percent population. Close to 68 percent Chines called themselves "convinced atheists", with another 23 percent identified themselves as non-religious. China is followed by Japan, where 87 percent of the population consists of atheists. Sweden occupies the third place with 78 percent atheists’population, followed by Czech Republic (75 percent), United Kingdom (72 percent) and Belgium (72 percent).
Rise of atheism in India
According to the 2011 census, there were approximately 2.9 million atheistsin India. This comes to only about 0.24% of India’s population, but it does represent a significant jump from a decade back. In the previous census conducted in 2011, had recorded only 7 lakh people under the “religion not stated” category. This shows a four times increase over the decade, at an average annual rate of 15 percent. If we look at the state-wise data, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh – come out on top with close to 0.5 percent people choosing to not state their religion. Delhi was at the bottom of the list, with only 0.08 percent of population choosing not to state their religion.
The population size might be lower but atheism is still a significant cultural force in India, as well as in other countries. The changing landscape might be a recent trend, but has far reaching consequences in near future.
