The least religious country in the world is China, while the most religious place is Thailand, a new survey about religion and beliefs determined.
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WIN/Gallup survey released Monday examined the religious beliefs of more than 63,000 people from 65 countries, determining that six out of 10 people, 63 percent, say they are religious. Twenty-two percent said they are not, while 11 percent consider themselves to be what the survey called "convinced atheists."
Thailand ranked as the most religious country, with 94 percent of the people there surveyed saying they considered themselves religious; next in line were Armenia, Bangladesh, Georgia, and Morocco, all with 93 percent. Fifty-six percent of Americans interviewed said they were religious.
China topped the least religious list with 61 percent of people surveyed telling WIN/Gallup researchers they were atheists, which was twice as many as any other country. Just 7 percent said they were religious, while 29 percent said they were not religious. Thirty-four percent of Hong Kong residents surveyed said they were atheists, while 31 percent of those surveyed from Japan said the same.
Survey results indicated younger people reported themselves to be more religious than older people.
“Religion continues to dominate our everyday lives and we see that the total number of people who consider themselves to be
religious is actually relatively high,” Jean-Marc Leger, of WIN/Gallup, told The Telegraph. “Furthermore, with the trend of an increasingly religious youth globally, we can assume that the number of people who consider themselves religious will only continue to increase.”
The survey reported that income, rather than age and other demographics, seemed to have a bigger impact on religious beliefs.
The survey found that fewer than 50 percent of people with medium high to high incomes said they were religious, while 70 percent of those said they were religious among people with low, medium-low, and medium incomes.