Index| Group | Where | Number of Adherents |
% of total pop. |
Number of congreg./ churches/ units |
Number of countries |
Year | Source | Quote/ Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonreligious | USA | 22,870,000 | - | - | - | 1996 | 1997 Britannica Book of the Year; pg. 781-783. | Table: "Religion ": Divided by nations, with 2 columns: "Religious affiliation " & "1996 pop. " [of that religion]. Based on best avail. figures, whether census data, membership figures or estimates by analysts, as % of est. 1996 midyear pop. |
| Nonreligious | USA | - | 6.00% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* Web site: Pew Research Center (1998): "The Diminishing Divide: American Churches, American Politics " | "Black Christians constitute 8% of registered voters, non-religious Americans 6% [Non-religious refers to those respondents who express no religious preference or say they are atheist or agnostic.] " |
| Nonreligious | USA | - | 7.00% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: Princeton Religion Research Center: "Gallup Religion Data " (Dec 1998) | Table: "Religious Preference -- National "; Gallup poll question: "What is your religious preference - Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish or an Orthodox religion such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church? " |
| Nonreligious | USA | 26,795,476 | 10.00% | - | - | 1997 | *LINK* CIA World Factbook web site (viewed Aug. 1998) | Total population: 267,954,764 (1997 est.). Protestant 56%, Roman Catholic 28%, Jewish 2%, other 4%, none 10% (1989) |
| Nonreligious | USA | 19,500,000 | 7.50% | - | - | 1998 | Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 2 - Americas. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 32, 34. | "Only 1% of the population classifies itself as agnostic, while another 7.5% has no religion. " |
| Nonreligious | USA | - | 8.50% | - | - | 1998 | *LINK* Nazarene web site: Nazarene World Mission Society; (major source: Johnstone's Operation World) | Table "Religions " |
| Nonreligious | USA | 23,000,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | *LINK* web site: Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (viewed circa Nov. 1998); "last updated October 1998 " | Table: "'Other Than Christian' Organizations "; "Some of the following data were estimated from North American figures: " |
| Nonreligious | USA | 23,000,000 | - | - | - | 1998 | *LINK* web site: Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (viewed circa Nov. 1998); "last updated October 1998 " | Table: "Largest Religious Groups: The 16 US faith groups and ethical systems with memberships over 1 million are: " |
| Nonreligious | USA | 7,500,000 | - | - | - | 1999 | *LINK* Web site: "The Global Village Atheist "; web page: "How Many Atheists? " (viewed 6 April 1999); Author: GVAtheist@netscape.net. | "The Encyclopedia Brittanica has the number of Atheists at 220 million (3.8%) with 1.67 million ( < 1%) in North America... Comment: I think the estimate of the number of Atheists in North America is absurdly low. I think there are probably 1 million to 1.5 million Atheists in Canada alone with 4 or 5 times that many in the US. [This author is confusing the separate meanings of "nonreligious " and "atheist. "] American Atheists, Inc. places the number of non believers in North America around 10%. Between 5% and 10% seems reasonable. " |
| Nonreligious | USA | - | 10.00% | - | - | 1999 | *LINK* Web site: "The Global Village Atheist "; web page: "How Many Atheists? " (viewed 6 April 1999); Author: GVAtheist@netscape.net. | "American Atheists, Inc. places the number of non believers in North America around 10%. " |
| Nonreligious | USA | - | 7.00% | - | - | 1999 | Woodward, Kenneth L. "2000 Years of Jesus " in Newsweek (March 19, 1999); pg. 54. | Graphic with poll results: "What is your religious preference? Percent responding: 62% Protestant; 20% Roman Catholic; 7% No Religion; 4% Non-christian; 3% Jewish " |
| Nonreligious | USA | 24,126,000 | 8.80% | - | - | 2000 | 1996 Britannica Book of the Year | Table: Non-Christian Religious Adherents in the United States. Year 2000 projection done in 1995. |
| Nonreligious | USA | - | 14.00% | - | - | 2000 | *LINK* Gibson, David (RNS). "Is the New Christianity No Longer About 'We' and All About 'Me'? " in Salt Lake Tribune (15 Jan 2000). | "Since 1972, the proportion of Americans expressing no religious preference doubled, from 7 to 14%. " |
| Nonreligious | USA | - | 14.00% | - | - | 2001 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "According to CUNY's 2001 American Religious Identification Survey, 14% of Americans claim 'no religion' in terms of self-identification, up from 8% in 1990. " [Sources: ARIS, 2001, Kosmin et al; Kosmin, Barry and Seymour Lachman. 1993. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society. New York, NY: Crown Publishers] |
| Nonreligious | USA | - | 16.00% | - | - | 2004 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 16% of Americans claim no religious affiliation (Kang, 2004). " [Source: Kang, Connie. 2004. "Nation's Unchurched Doubled in Decade, Poll Finds. " Los Angeles Times, Oct. 30, B2.] |
| Nonreligious | USA - East | - | 7.00% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: Princeton Religion Research Center: "Gallup Religion Data " (Dec 1998) | Tables: "Religious Preference -- Regional "; the East: West Virginia, Pa., Maryland, Del., N.J., N.Y., Conn., R.I., Mass., N.H., Vermont, Maine, Washington D.C.; latest Gallup poll data. Question: "What is your religious preference - Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish or an Orthodox religion such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church? " |
| Nonreligious | USA - men | - | 11.00% | - | - | 1982 | Wuthnow, Robert. The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith Since World War II, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (1988); pg. 225. | "According to recent national surveys, only half as many women (6%) as men (11%) claimed to be without any religious faith. " |
| Nonreligious | USA - men | - | 5.00% | - | - | 1983 | Popenoe, David. Sociology (5th Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1983); pg. 446-447. | "Other statistics show that slightly more women than men have a religious affiliation. In a Gallup poll, 5% of the males reported no religion as compared with only 2% of the females. " |
| Nonreligious | USA - Midwest | - | 6.00% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: Princeton Religion Research Center: "Gallup Religion Data " (Dec 1998) | Tables: "Religious Preference -- Regional "; the Midwest: No. Dakota, So. Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minn., Iowa, Missouri, Wis., Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio; latest Gallup poll data. Question: "What is your religious preference - Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish or an Orthodox religion such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church? " |
| Nonreligious | USA - military | - | 26.00% | - | - | 2000 | *LINK* Estrin, Robin (AP). "Religion in the News " on Excite.News.Com (17 Feb 2000) | "Although the military is dominated by Protestants and Catholics (71 percent of Army personnel identify themselves as Christian, compared with 0.4 percent Muslims and 0.3 percent Jews), it has become a far more religiously diverse place. About 26 percent cite no religious preference. " |
| Nonreligious | USA - Pacific Northwest | - | 30.00% | - | - | 1999 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "Within the United States, the Pacific Northwest region (Oregon, Washington, and Alaska) is the least religious in the country, with over 62% of the people there unaffiliated with any specific denomination and over 30% claiming the identity of 'No religion/Humanist' (Killen and Silk, 2004). " [Killen, Patricia O'Connell and Mark Silk. 2004. Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press] |
| Nonreligious | USA - South | - | 6.00% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: Princeton Religion Research Center: "Gallup Religion Data " (Dec 1998) | Tables: "Religious Preference -- Regional "; the South: Oklahoma, Texas, Ark., Louisiana, Miss., Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tenn., Ky., Va., N.C., S.C.; latest Gallup poll data. Question: "What is your religious preference - Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish or an Orthodox religion such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church? " |
| Nonreligious | USA - West | - | 14.00% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: Princeton Religion Research Center: "Gallup Religion Data " (Dec 1998) | Tables: "Religious Preference -- Regional "; the West: Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado; latest Gallup poll data. Question: "What is your religious preference - Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish or an Orthodox religion such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox Church? " |
| Nonreligious | USA - women | - | 6.00% | - | - | 1982 | Wuthnow, Robert. The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith Since World War II, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (1988); pg. 225. | "According to recent national surveys, only half as many women (6%) as men (11%) claimed to be without any religious faith. " |
| Nonreligious | USA - women | - | 2.00% | - | - | 1983 | Popenoe, David. Sociology (5th Ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1983); pg. 446-447. | "Other statistics show that slightly more women than men have a religious affiliation. In a Gallup poll, 5% of the males reported no religion as compared with only 2% of the females. " |
| Nonreligious | Utah | - | 7.80% | - | - | 1990 | Kosmin, B. & S. Lachman. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society; Harmony Books: New York (1993); pg. 88-93. | Table 3-1: Religious Composition of State Populations, 1990 (%). Self-identification of religious loyalty, phone survey w/ 113,000 people; by City U. of New York. |
| Nonreligious | Utah | - | 17.00% | - | - | 2001 | *LINK* Kosmin, Barry A.; Egon Mayer; & Ariela Keysar. "American Religious Identity Survey. " 2001. City University of New York. | ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "No religion " |
| Nonreligious | Uzbekistan | - | 26.00% | - | - | 1993 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "According to Johnstone (1993)... 26% of Uzbeks... are nonreligious. " [Source: Johnstone, Patrick. 1993. Operation World. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House] |
| Nonreligious | Vanuatu | - | 1.00% | - | - | 1992 | Goring, Rosemary (ed). Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions (Larousse: 1994); pg. 581-584. | Table: "Population Distribution of Major Beliefs "; "Figures have been compiled from the most accurate recent available information and are in most cases correct to the nearest 1% " |
| Nonreligious | Venezuela | - | 1.00% | - | - | 2004 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "According to Hiorth (2003), Barret et al (2001), the 1999 Gallup International Poll, and Inglehart et al (2004, 1998), less than 1-2% of those in El Salvador, Guatemala, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, and Venezuela are atheist, agnostic, or nonreligious. " [Sources: Hiorth. Finngeir. 2003. Atheism in the World. Oslo, Norway: Human-Etosk Forbund; Barrett, David, George Kurian, and Todd Johnson. 2001. World Christian Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; Inglehart, Ronald, Miguel Basanez, Jaime Diez-Medrano, Loek Halman, and Ruud Luijkx. 2004. Human Beliefs and Values: A Cross-Cultural Sourcebook Based on the 1999-2002 Value Surveys. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo Veintiuno Editores; Inglehart, Ronald, Miguel Basanez, and Alejandro Moreno. 1998. Human Values and Beliefs: A Cross Cultural Sourcebook. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press] |
| Nonreligious | Vermont | - | 11.40% | - | - | 1990 | Kosmin, B. & S. Lachman. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society; Harmony Books: New York (1993); pg. 88-93. | Table 3-1: Religious Composition of State Populations, 1990 (%). Self-identification of religious loyalty, phone survey w/ 113,000 people; by City U. of New York. |
| Nonreligious | Vermont | - | 22.00% | - | - | 2001 | *LINK* Kosmin, Barry A.; Egon Mayer; & Ariela Keysar. "American Religious Identity Survey. " 2001. City University of New York. | ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "No religion " |
| Nonreligious | Vietnam | - | 30.00% | - | - | 1998 | *LINK* Nazarene web site: Nazarene World Mission Society; (major source: Johnstone's Operation World) | Table "Religions " |
| Nonreligious | Virgin Islands (British) | 267 | 2.00% | - | - | 1997 | *LINK* CIA World Factbook web site (viewed Aug. 1998) | Protestant 86% (Methodist 45%, Anglican 21%, Church of God 7%, Seventh-Day Adventist 5%, Baptist 4%, Jehovah's Witnesses 2%, other 2%), Roman Catholic 6%, none 2%, other 6% (1981); Total population: 13,368 (1997 est.). |
| Nonreligious | Virgin Islands (U.S.) | - | 1.00% | - | - | 1992 | Goring, Rosemary (ed). Larousse Dictionary of Beliefs & Religions (Larousse: 1994); pg. 581-584. | Table: "Population Distribution of Major Beliefs "; "Figures have been compiled from the most accurate recent available information and are in most cases correct to the nearest 1% " |
| Nonreligious | Virgin Islands (U.S.) | - | 1.50% | - | - | 1998 | *LINK* Nazarene web site: Nazarene World Mission Society; (major source: Johnstone's Operation World) | Table "Religions " |
| Nonreligious | Virginia | - | 6.40% | - | - | 1990 | Kosmin, B. & S. Lachman. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society; Harmony Books: New York (1993); pg. 88-93. | Table 3-1: Religious Composition of State Populations, 1990 (%). Self-identification of religious loyalty, phone survey w/ 113,000 people; by City U. of New York. |
| Nonreligious | Virginia | - | 12.00% | - | - | 2001 | *LINK* Kosmin, Barry A.; Egon Mayer; & Ariela Keysar. "American Religious Identity Survey. " 2001. City University of New York. | ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "No religion " |
| Nonreligious | Washington | - | 14.00% | - | - | 1990 | Kosmin, B. & S. Lachman. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society; Harmony Books: New York (1993); pg. 88-93. | Table 3-1: Religious Composition of State Populations, 1990 (%). Self-identification of religious loyalty, phone survey w/ 113,000 people; by City U. of New York. |
| Nonreligious | Washington | - | 30.00% | - | - | 1999 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "Within the United States, the Pacific Northwest region (Oregon, Washington, and Alaska) is the least religious in the country, with over 62% of the people there unaffiliated with any specific denomination and over 30% claiming the identity of 'No religion/Humanist' (Killen and Silk, 2004). " [Killen, Patricia O'Connell and Mark Silk. 2004. Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press] |
| Nonreligious | Washington | - | 25.00% | - | - | 2001 | *LINK* Kosmin, Barry A.; Egon Mayer; & Ariela Keysar. "American Religious Identity Survey. " 2001. City University of New York. | ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "No religion " |
| Nonreligious | Washington, D.C. | - | 6.30% | - | - | 1990 | Kosmin, B. & S. Lachman. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society; Harmony Books: New York (1993); pg. 88-93. | Table 3-1: Religious Composition of State Populations, 1990 (%). Self-identification of religious loyalty, phone survey w/ 113,000 people; by City U. of New York. [Geographic region in this table is listed as "District of Columbia ", not "Washington, D.C. "] |
| Nonreligious | Washington, D.C. | - | 13.00% | - | - | 2001 | *LINK* Kosmin, Barry A.; Egon Mayer; & Ariela Keysar. "American Religious Identity Survey. " 2001. City University of New York. | ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "No religion " |
| Nonreligious | West Virginia | - | 8.00% | - | - | 1990 | Kosmin, B. & S. Lachman. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society; Harmony Books: New York (1993); pg. 88-93. | Table 3-1: Religious Composition of State Populations, 1990 (%). Self-identification of religious loyalty, phone survey w/ 113,000 people; by City U. of New York. |
| Nonreligious | West Virginia | - | 13.00% | - | - | 2001 | *LINK* Kosmin, Barry A.; Egon Mayer; & Ariela Keysar. "American Religious Identity Survey. " 2001. City University of New York. | ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "No religion " |
| Nonreligious | Wisconsin | - | 6.10% | - | - | 1990 | Kosmin, B. & S. Lachman. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society; Harmony Books: New York (1993); pg. 88-93. | Table 3-1: Religious Composition of State Populations, 1990 (%). Self-identification of religious loyalty, phone survey w/ 113,000 people; by City U. of New York. |
| Nonreligious | Wisconsin | - | 14.00% | - | - | 2001 | *LINK* Kosmin, Barry A.; Egon Mayer; & Ariela Keysar. "American Religious Identity Survey. " 2001. City University of New York. | ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "No religion " |
| Nonreligious | world | - | - | - | - | 1965 | Otto, Walter F. Dionysus: Myth and Cult. Dallas, Texas: Spring Publications (1981 - reissued; English translation first published 1965 by Indiana University Press); Translated to English by Robert B. Palmer. [Eliade original source: The Sacred and Profane, W.R. Trask, tr. (New York, 1959), pp. 202.]; pg. xi. | "Twentieth-century intellectual man has increasingly divorced himself from his former identity as homo religiosus and has embraced instead a philosophy of the non-transcendent. The non-religious man (the term would mean almost nothing in the ancient world) has become a reality. Mircea Eliade has done much to characterize him: 'The non-religious man refuses transcendence, accepts the relativity of 'reality' and may even come to doubt the meaning of existence... Modern non-religious man assumes a new existential situation; he regards himself solely as the subject and agent of history, and he refuses all appeal to transcendence. In other words, he accepts no model for humanity outside the human condition as it can be seen by the various historical situations... The sacred is the prime obstacle to his freedom. He will become himself only when he is totally demysticized. He will not be truly free until he has killed the last god.' " |
| Nonreligious | world | 969,000,000 | 18.30% | - | - | 1993 | Johnstone. Operation World. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan (1993); pg. 23. | "Non-religious/other. 18.3%. 969 million. Growth averaged 4.5% between 1960 and 1985 through secularization in the West and atheism propagated in the Communist world. The return of millions in the former Communist world to Christianity or other religions has halted this growth for a time. " [Other here must mean atheist, agnostic, Communist, etc. Other, as in 'other religions' is listed as a separate category.] |
| Nonreligious | world | 841,548,992 | 14.72% | - | - | 1995 | The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1997 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ), [Source: 1996 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year]; pg. 646. | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1995 "; Nonreligious. Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religions. " |
| Nonreligious | world | 886,928,512 | 15.28% | - | - | 1996 | The World Almanac & Book of Facts 1998 (K-111 Reference Corp.: Mahwah, NJ), [Source: 1997 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year]; pg. 654. | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1996 "; Nonreligious. Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religions. " |
| Nonreligious | world | 876,232,000 | 16.00% | - | - | 1996 | *LINK* web site: "The Geography of Religion Website " (assembled by the students of Morehead State University, under Prof. Timothy C. Pitts); web page: "The Geography of Humanism " (viewed 2 March 1999); [Orig. source: Markham, Ian S., (Editor), A World Religions Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers (1996), pp. 356-357.] | table with 3 columns: "Area "; "Adherents "; "Population Percentage "; "Secular Humanists are sometimes hard to classify, and perhaps even more difficult to obtain demographic data about. The following distribution lists two groups: Nonreligious and Atheists. Nonreligious are defined as persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, and dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religion. Atheists are defined as persons professing atheism, skepticism, disbelief, or irreligion, including antireligious (opposed to all religion). " |
| Nonreligious | world | 800,000,000 | - | - | - | 1997 | Ash, Russell. The Top 10 of Everything, DK Publishing, Inc.: New York (1997); pg. 160-161. | "This list [Top 10 Organized Religions in the World] excludes... perhaps more than 800,000,000 people who may be classified as 'nonreligious' (having no interest in religion of any persuasion), and a further 220,000,000 atheists... " |
| Nonreligious | world | 1,169,939,840 | 20.00% | - | - | 1997 | O'Brien, J. & M. Palmer. The State of Religion Atlas. Simon & Schuster: New York (1993); pg. 41. | "Over 20 percent of the world's population does not claim any allegiance to a religion. Most are agnostics. Others are atheists, who deny the existence of God. " Numerical figure: 20% of 1997 world population: 5,849,699,041 (CIA World Factbook) |
| Nonreligious | world | 886,000,000 | - | - | - | 1997 | *LINK* web site: "Monday Morning Reality Check " (Protestant); web page: "Status of Global Mission 1997 " by Justin D. Long, 1997 (viewed 5 March 1999) | "In our world today there are 1,995 million Christians, making Christianity the largest religion on the planet. Muslims follow a close second with 1,154 million, and the Nonreligious are third with 886 million. " |
| Nonreligious | world | 759,654,976 | 12.81% | - | - | 1998 | World Almanac and Book of Facts 2000. Mahwah, NJ: PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. (1999). [Source: 1999 Encyc. Britannica Book of the Year]; pg. 695. | Table: "Adherents of All Religions by Six Continental Areas, Mid-1998 "; "Nonreligious: Persons professing no religion, nonbelievers, agnostics, freethinkers, dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religion. " |
| Nonreligious | world | 806,000,000 | 17.00% | - | - | 1998 | *LINK* web site: Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance (viewed circa Nov. 1998) [Original sources: J.W. Wright, Editor, The Universal Almanac, 1996, Andrews & McMeel, Kansas City. Greg H. Parsons, Executive Director, "U.S. Center for World Mission, " Pasadena, CA; quoted in Zondervan News Service, 1997-FEB-21.] | Table: "Number of Adherents of World Religions "; [listed as "No religion: "Persons with no religion, agnostics, freethinkers "] |
| Nonreligious | world | 806,000,000 | 17.00% | - | - | 1999 | *LINK* Web site: "The Global Village Atheist "; web page: "How Many Atheists? " (viewed 6 April 1999); Author: GVAtheist@netscape.net. | "The Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance puts the number of non-religious worldwide at 806 million (17%) and the number of Atheists (not included in the foregoing) at 211 million (4%). " |
| Nonreligious | world | 850,000,000 | - | - | - | 1999 | *LINK* Web site: "The Global Village Atheist "; web page: "How Many Atheists? " (viewed 6 April 1999); Author: GVAtheist@netscape.net. | "Adherents.com puts the number of non-religious at 850 million worldwide. " |
| Nonreligious | world | 749,000,000 | 11.74% | - | - | 2005 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "From the top 50 countries [highest % of atheists, agnostics, non-believers in God], along with those additionally mentioned above countries, the grand total worldwide number of atheists, agnostics, and non-believers in God is somewhere between 504,962,830 and 749,247,571... Also, these numbers are only for non-believers of God, specifically. Were one to include all 'non-religious' people in general, the numbers would nearly double. [This means the number of 'non-religious' is estimated at a worldwide total of less than 749,247,571 - a figure that does not include the previously enumerated roughly equivalent number of atheists and agnostics. The phrase 'nonbelievers in God' here refers to atheists, agnostics and poll-identified 'non-believers in God' specifically, but does not include those classified as 'non-religious', i.e., people who believe in God, but who specify no religious preference or answer 'none' when asked their religon.] |
| Nonreligious | Wyoming | - | 13.50% | - | - | 1990 | Kosmin, B. & S. Lachman. One Nation Under God: Religion in Contemporary American Society; Harmony Books: New York (1993); pg. 88-93. | Table 3-1: Religious Composition of State Populations, 1990 (%). Self-identification of religious loyalty, phone survey w/ 113,000 people; by City U. of New York. |
| Nonreligious | Wyoming | - | 20.00% | - | - | 2001 | *LINK* Kosmin, Barry A.; Egon Mayer; & Ariela Keysar. "American Religious Identity Survey. " 2001. City University of New York. | ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "No religion " |
| Nonreligious | Yemen | - | 2.00% | - | - | 1993 | Zuckerman, Phil. "Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns ", chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005) | "According to Johnstone (1993), less than 2% of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, and Kuwait are nonreligious. " [Source: Johnstone, Patrick. 1993. Operation World. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House] |
| Nonreligious | Yugoslavia | - | 32.00% | - | - | 1991 | *LINK* web site: "Yugoslavia.com "; web page: "Population: Religion " (viewed 30 Jan. 1999). [Orig. source: Source: Federal Buerau of Statistics, 1991., Veroispovest, volum 2 - 1993.] | Graphic: "Religious self-evaluation of Yugoslav citizens "; "Non-religious " 32%; "Religious " 41%; "Undecided " 26%; "Against religion " 1%; These results are in response to a question of how religious people consider themselves, which is different than asking people their preferred religion. Answering a question about religious preference, only 1.9% identified themselves as atheists or "Non believers " |
| Nonreligious | Yukon | 9,800 | 35.20% | - | - | 1991 | Gall, Timothy L. & Susan Bevan Gall (editors). Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Canadian Provinces. Detroit: U.X.L. (1997), [Source: Canadian Census]; pg. 186. | "In 1991, 43.1% of the population--or about 12,000 people--was Protestant... About 35.2% of the population--nearly 9,800 people--had no religious affiliation in 1991, the highest such rate in Canada. " |
