Christianity among religions seeing sharp decline
More than 20% of adults have departed from the religious groups in which they were raised, according to a Pew Research Center study spanning 36 countries. The trend, called “religious switching,” has resulted in notable declines for Christianity and Buddhism, while a growing number of adults now identify as religiously unaffiliated.
The phenomenon of religious switching, as defined in the report, involves individuals changing their religious identities between childhood and adulthood. This includes disaffiliation from religion entirely or switching to a different major religious group. However, it doesn’t account for transitions within the same religion, such as shifting from one Christian denomination to another.
While some countries, including India, Israel, Nigeria and Thailand, report high religious retention rates of 95% or more, other regions, particularly East Asia, Western Europe and the Americas, display significant religious mobility.
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In South Korea, the survey found that half of its adult population no longer identifies with their childhood religion.
Similarly, 36% of adults in the Netherlands, 28% in the United States and 21% in Brazil report having left the religious traditions they grew up with. In many of these cases, individuals have transitioned into the “religiously unaffiliated” category, which includes atheists, agnostics and those who describe their religious identity as “nothing in particular.”
The data suggests that Christianity is one of the religions most affected by this shift. In Sweden, for instance, 29% of adults raised as Christians now identify as religiously unaffiliated.
Christianity stands out as the religion with the highest net losses due to religious switching in most of the countries studied. For example, in Germany, the ratio of people leaving Christianity to those joining is 19.7 to 1.0, meaning nearly 20 Germans raised as Christians no longer identify with the faith for every one individual who has converted to Christianity.
However, there are exceptions to this trend. In Singapore, Christianity is experiencing small gains, with a ratio of 1.0 to 3.2 — indicating that for every Singaporean who has left Christianity, about three others have joined.
In some countries, such as Nigeria, the ratio is balanced, with equal numbers of individuals leaving and joining Christianity (1.0 to 1.0), reflecting a more stable religious landscape for the faith in these regions.
Buddhism has also experienced significant losses in some regions. In Japan, 23% of adults who were raised Buddhist no longer identify with any religion, while in South Korea, 13% of adults have similarly disaffiliated from Buddhism.
While the majority of religious switching involves disaffiliation, the report also notes cases of individuals moving toward religion.
South Korea has the highest proportion of adults (9%) who were raised without any religious affiliation but now identify with a specific faith, the majority of them becoming Christian. Other countries, such as Singapore and South Africa, also show notable rates of adults switching between two distinct religions.
The survey further reveals that religious switching is not evenly distributed across all religious traditions or regions. Christianity, the world’s largest religion, is predominant or historically influential in 25 of the 36 countries surveyed.
Islam, the second-largest religion globally, is predominant in six of the surveyed nations, including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Turkey.
Buddhism, with historical predominance in countries like Japan, South Korea and Thailand, has seen notable disaffiliation in certain areas.
Meanwhile, Hinduism and Judaism, each predominant in only one country surveyed (India and Israel, respectively), exhibit much lower rates of religious switching.
