People of little faith, but not atheists either

AUGUST 13, 2012 SVETLANA SOLDOVNIK

Gallup International conducted a study in 57 countries (more than 50 thousand people were surveyed), whose residents were asked the same question about religiosity and atheism, reports the Ukrainian newspaper Segodnya.

The top five “most religious” countries included Ghana (96%), Nigeria (93%), Armenia (92%), Fiji (92%), Macedonia (90%).

Among post-Soviet countries, the largest number of religious people is in Georgia (84%), Moldova (83%), Uzbekistan (79%), Ukraine (71%). The smallest is in Russia (55%) and Azerbaijan (44%). In Russia, however, among the 45% of non-religious people, only 6% called themselves atheists.

Experts were surprised by the data obtained for Turkey. Not only was there a small religious population there - 23% - but the researchers also found a decline in its number over the past 7 years (data from the latest survey was compared with surveys conducted in 2005). Türkiye is only slightly ahead of the Czech Republic (20% religious), which is traditionally considered a non-religious country.

Most atheists live in East Asia - in China (47%, 14% believers), which is not surprising, and in Japan (31%, 16% believers), which, it seems to me, with its careful attitude to tradition, forces a new look at this country.