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The 2015 Pew Religious Landscape survey reported that as of 2014, 22.8% of the American population is religiously unaffiliated, atheists made up 3.1% and agnostics made up 4% of the US population. [63] In 2020, the World Religion Database estimated that the countries with the highest percentage of atheists were North Korea and Sweden. [64]
According to sociologists Ariela Keysar and Juhem Navarro-Rivera's 2013 review of numerous global studies on atheism, there are 450 to 500 million positive atheists and agnostics worldwide (7% of the world's population) with China alone accounting for 200 million of that demographic.
Countries with the greatest proportion of people without religion, including agnostics and atheists, from Irreligion by country (as of 2020): [42] Nonreligious population by country as of 2010 [43] Czech Republic 78.4% North Korea 71.3% Estonia 60.2% Hong Kong 54.7% China 51.8% New Zealand 48.2% [44] South Korea 46.6% Latvia 45.3%
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. [50] These estimates come from the International Social Survey Programme 2008 survey in which 40 countries took part. [51]
The term atheist (from the French athée), in the sense of "one who ... denies the existence of God or gods", [11] predates atheism in English, being first found as early as 1566, [12] and again in 1571. [13] Atheist as a label of practical godlessness was used at least as early as 1577. [14]
Respondents to religious-belief polls may define "atheism" differently or draw different distinctions between atheism, non-religious beliefs, and non-theistic religious and spiritual beliefs. [180] A 2010 survey published in Encyclopædia Britannica found that the non-religious made up about 9.6% of the world's population, and atheists about 2.0%.
Irreligion in France has a long history and a large demographic constitution, with the advancement of atheism and the deprecation of theistic religion dating back as far as the French Revolution. In 2015, according to estimates, at least 29% of the country's population identifies as atheists and 63% identifies as non-religious. [1]
Sweden is considered one of the world's most secular nations, with a high proportion of irreligious people. [9] Phil Zuckerman, an associate professor of Sociology at Pitzer College, [10] writes that several academic sources have in recent years placed atheism rates in Sweden between 46% and 85%, with one source reporting that only 17% of respondents self-identified as "atheist". [11]