Here is a list of the top fifty countries containing the highest percentage of people who identify themselves as atheist, agnostic, or non-believers in God.
These figures do not necessarily represent the number of people who are identify themselves as “atheists.” For example, in Estonia in 2004, 49% of people surveyed said they did not believe in God. At the same time, only 11% of people in the country identified themselves as atheists.
Sweden | 8,986,000 | 46 – 85% | 4,133,560 – 7,638,100 |
Vietnam | 82,690,000 | 81% | 66,978,900 |
Denmark | 5,413,000 | 43 – 80% | 2,327,590 – 4,330,400 |
Norway | 4,575,000 | 31 – 72% | 1,418,250 – 3,294,000 |
Japan | 127,333,000 | 64 – 65% | 81,493,120 – 82,766,450 |
Czech Republic | 10,246,100 | 54 – 61% | 5,328,940 – 6,250,121 |
Finland | 5,215,000 | 28 – 60% | 1,460,200 – 3,129,000 |
France | 60,424,000 | 43 – 54% | 25,982,320 – 32,628,960 |
South Korea | 48,598,000 | 30 – 52% | 14,579,400 – 25,270,960 |
Estonia | 1,342,000 | 49% | 657,580 |
Germany | 82,425,000 | 41 – 49% | 33,794,250 – 40,388,250 |
Russia | 143,782,000 | 24 – 48% | 34,507,680 – 69,015,360 |
Hungary | 10,032,000 | 32 – 46% | 3,210,240 – 4,614,720 |
Netherlands | 16,318,000 | 39 – 44% | 6,364,020 – 7,179,920 |
Britain | 60,271,000 | 31 – 44% | 18,684,010 – 26,519,240 |
Belgium | 10,348,000 | 42 – 43% | 4,346,160 – 4,449,640 |
Bulgaria | 7,518,000 | 34 – 40% | 2,556,120 – 3,007,200 |
Slovenia | 2,011,000 | 35 – 38% | 703,850 – 764,180 |
Israel | 6,199,000 | 15 – 37% | 929,850 – 2,293,630 |
Canada | 32,508,000 | 19 – 30% | 6,176,520 – 9,752,400 |
Latvia | 2,306,000 | 20 – 29% | 461,200 – 668,740 |
Slovakia | 5,424,000 | 10 – 28% | 542,400 – 1,518,720 |
Switzerland | 7,451,000 | 17 – 27% | 1,266,670 – 2,011,770 |
Austria | 8,175,000 | 18 – 26% | 1,471,500 – 2,125,500 |
Australia | 19,913,000 | 24 – 25% | 4,779,120 – 4,978,250 |
Taiwan | 22,750,000 | 24% | 5,460,000 |
Spain | 40,281,000 | 15 – 24% | 6,042,150 – 9,667,440 |
Iceland | 294,000 | 16 – 23% | 47,040 – 67,620 |
New Zealand | 3,994,000 | 20 – 22% | 798,800 – 878,680 |
Ukraine | 47,732,000 | 20% | 9,546,400 |
Belarus | 10,311,000 | 17% | 1,752,870 |
Greece | 10,648,000 | 16% | 1,703,680 |
North Korea | 22,698,000 | 15%* | 3,404,700 |
Italy | 58,057,000 | 6 – 15% | 3,483,420 – 8,708,550 |
Armenia | 2,991,000 | 14% | 418,740 |
China | 1,298,848,000 | 8 – 14%* | 103,907,840 – 181,838,720 |
Lithuania | 3,608,000 | 13% | 469,040 |
Singapore | 4,354,000 | 13% | 566,020 |
Uruguay | 3,399,000 | 12% | 407,880 |
Kazakhstan | 15,144,000 | 11 – 12% | 1,665,840 – 1,817,280 |
Mongolia | 2,751,000 | 9% | 247,590 |
Portugal | 10,524,000 | 4 – 9% | 420,960 – 947,160 |
USA | 293,028,000 | 3 – 9% | 8,790,840 – 26,822,520 |
Albania | 3,545,000 | 8% | 283,600 |
Argentina | 39,145,000 | 4 – 8% | 1,565,800 – 3,131,600 |
Kyrgyzstan | 5,081,000 | 7% | 355,670 |
Dominican Republic | 8,834,000 | 7% | 618,380 |
Cuba | 11,309,000 | 7%* | 791,630 |
Croatia | 4,497,000 | 7% | 314,790 |
Source: Zuckerman, Phil. “Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns”, chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK (2005).
* NOTE: The estimates of the number of atheists in North Korea, China and Cuba may be unreliable. The best data available have been used in making these estimates, but the people in these three nations live under Communist governments which have traditionally suppressed religious freedom and officially (often forcibly) endorsed atheism.
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