20 Countries with the Highest Rates of Religious Disaffiliation, Including an Indonesian Neighbour
A Pew Research Center survey released in 2025 recorded that approximately 24.2% of the world’s population is not affiliated with any religion, falling into the religiously unaffiliated category. This figure has increased from around 23% in 2010.
It should be noted that the roots of atheistic thought have existed since at least the 6th century BC, but atheism as a broad intellectual movement and social identity only truly developed from the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The growth of atheism is generally linked to rising education levels, the development of science and technology, and social changes that lead people to rely more on rational and empirical explanations rather than those based on religious belief. In many countries, secularisation—the separation of religion from public institutions—has also meant that religion is no longer the centre of social life as it was in the past.
In addition to the trend of secularism, various scandals within places of worship are also cited as a driver of the increasing number of people leaving religion.
Currently, the level of atheism varies greatly between countries. Countries such as Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Japan have a relatively high proportion of residents who are not affiliated with any religion, while in many other countries religion continues to play an important role in public life.
Below is a list of the 20 countries with the largest atheist populations according to Pew Research Center’s Religious Composition by Country, published in 2022.
Czech Republic: 78.4 percent
North Korea: 71.3 percent
Estonia: 60.2 percent
Japan: 60 percent
Hong Kong: 54.7 percent
China: 51.8 percent
South Korea: 46.6 percent
Latvia: 45.3 percent
Netherlands: 44.3 percent
Uruguay: 41.5 percent
New Zealand: 39.6 percent
Mongolia: 36.5 percent
France: 31.9 percent
United Kingdom and Northern Ireland: 31.2 percent
Belgium: 31 percent
Vietnam: 29.9 percent
Sweden: 29 percent
Australia: 28.6 percent
Belarus: 28.6 percent
Luxembourg: 26.7 percent